How does Peter Roskam show his support for the troops on Veteran’s Day? Why by voting against spending any money to help improve their lives, that’s how.

Actually, the vote took place on 11/6, this past Tuesday. It was the vote on passage of the conference version of H.R. 3043: Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. The bill passed and has been Presented to President Bush who has threatened a veto. The bill includes provisions to help veterans including:

• $228 million for employment programs for veterans
• $3.6 billion for job training programs
• $3.4 billion in unemployment-insurance and employment-services programs
• $906 million for mental health services
• $23.6 million for homeless veterans

Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are having a tough time. Reservists returning from active service often face job loss, despite the legal protections that exist to prevent it. Post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide are epidemic among returning vets. Hundreds of vets are returning home with traumatic brain injuries and an estimated 500-1000 veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq are homeless.

This bill would offer concrete assistance to help veterans. But Peter Roskam and George Bush prefer to show their support by making speeches and having their pictures taken with wounded vets. They don’t want to have to spend any money.

The irony is, of course, that they do want to keep pouring billions into Iraq and Afghanistan and to keep the flow of wounded veterans coming.

Veterans of the 6th Congressional district, Peter Roskam is not your friend.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the Bush presidency has been the administration’s ideological bent against regulation of industry. Given his way Bush, would return the country to the way it was before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) worked to protect the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink, before the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) existed to protect workers from workplace hazards, before the Consumer Products Safety (CPSC) was established to protect Americans from injuries associated with consumer products, and before the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) was in place to improve health and safety conditions in America’s mines. Bush and like-minded Republicans want to diminish the powers of agencies such as the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture to assure the quality and safety of the medicines we take and the food we give to our children.

The administration has taken concrete steps to begin the dismantling of this regulatory infrastructure including:

• Appointing industry lobbyists and lawyers to key positions in the agencies regulating the industries from which they came
• Disregarding scientific opinion in favor of political ideology
• Reducing enforcement of existing regulations
• Under-funding regulatory agencies
• Allowing industry representatives to draft legislation
• Blurring the boundaries between the regulators and the regulated

Peter Roskam is on board for this agenda of de-regulation of industry to the detriment of public welfare. The story of Peter and the Popcorn Worker is a case in point.

Bronchiolitis obliterans is an obstructive lung disease that results from inflammation and scarring of the bronchioles - the smallest airways in the lungs. This can happen as a result of a toxic exposure or a respiratory infection or sometimes as a complication of lung transplantation. The onset is relatively acute, within a few weeks of the causative event. It is irreversible and progressive, and, ultimately, fatal. It can be treated with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs, and sometimes by lung transplantation.

Diacetyl is a chemical ingredient used in the manufacture of artificial butter flavior commonly used in microwave popcorn. Beginning in 1992, previously healthy workers in plants manufacturing popcorn began to be diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans with unusual frequency. Studies have indicated a link between the workers exposure to diacetyl in the workplace and the development of the disease.

Despite validation of the risk to workers and recommendations for protective measures developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) the Bush administration chose to ignore the science and OSHA refused to implement standards to protect workers.

House Democrats grew impatient with the administration’s foot-dragging and introduced H.R. 2693: Popcorn Workers Lung Disease Prevention Act which would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a standard regulating worker exposure to diacetyl.

The White House reacted with a statement strongly opposing the bill, preferring its own evaluation of the hazard to that of scientists and insisting that the evidence be unequivocal” before it would be prudent to take steps to protect workers.

And Peter, remember this story is about Peter, what did he do to help the Popcorn Worker?

Well, actually, he did nothing.

H.R. 2693 came to a vote in the House on September 26th. Peter, and a bunch of other Republicans figured President Bush knew more than a bunch of damn scientists and voted against it.

The good news is that Peter and his corporatist pals didn’t win, at least not yet. The bill passed in the House, 260 to 154 and has been passed on to the Senate where it is on the calendar for consideration. But even if it passes there, there is the chance that the President will veto the bill and a lot more popcorn workers may die before the science is “unequivocal”.

There was an interesting post by Amanda at Think Progress yesterday. She noted Karl Rove bloviating about liberal bloggers in a speech at Yahoo’s Citizen 2.0. Karl said that “the Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse” and suggested that many bloggers are “angry kooks”. Angry, yes. Kooks, no. How can anyone with any sanity watch what this President and his party are doing to our country and not be angry. And I’m royally pissed that Peter Roskam is letting him do it. Every citizen in Peter’s district should be pissed too.