It was around this time, 3 years ago, that we were hearing news of
Americans dying in violent highway accidents, all over the country,
because their tires blew up. Our country looked like a war zone, it
seemed like an American was getting killed everyday. Defective
Bridgestone/Firestone tires kept blowing up on cars as they traveled at
highway speed, causing deadly accidents and they especially caused SUVs
to roll over. Hundreds of Americans died until

What caused the problem?

It was the Republican dominated Congress who defanged and defunded the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in effect, deregulating
them in the late 1990's. The NHTSA has the responsibility to see to it
that tire makers such as Firestone and Bridgestone make safe tires. But
after the Repugs, in effect, deregulated the NHTSA, hundreds of people
died from defective tires that were blowing up all over the place.
Firestone had to recall millions of defective tires to stop these
deaths. People died because of what the Repugs did.

There has NEVER been an example of deregulation being good for any
business or for our country, never. Yet it is the Republicans who keep
leading the charge to deregulate businesses. It is always the
Republicans who are asking for deregulation. Repuglicans are hell bent
on punishing the little guy with calls of "get tough on crime", and
"personal responsibility", and all that, but they turn around and just
kiss the ass of the big guys and they look the other way as the big guys
continue to steal from and abuse the little guys.

All that Republicans are about is taking big money and screwing little
people (that's us, the American people).

Also remember, the Repugs deregulated the Savings & Loans Industry, and
it ended up costing us tax payers $500 billion to bail out that
industry. And the Repugs deregulated the air line industry, and look at
the mess it is in right now. After deregulation of the air line
industry, in the 1970's, air lines suddenly felt free to overbook,
cancel flights, delay them ad nauseum, and on and on, the passenger
complaints skyrocketed after deregulation. After the Repugs deregulated
the airline industry, security suffered, that is when the airports
started hiring minimum wage baggage screeners, and then Sept. 11th
happened.

In California, we did not used to have a power problem, until former
Republican Governor Pete Wilson gave the whole store away, and literally
handed over California's entire power industry to his band of thieves,
the same band of thieves who financed his campaign, the power industry.
Los Angeles, wisely enough, refused to believe the Republican lies about
how deregulation will bring down energy prices, so they did not go along
with deregulation. As a result, Los Angeles still has their same old
non-profit, publicly owned system, and they now enjoy the lowest energy
prices in the entire State, and they have no shortage of energy
whatsoever. This happened because they refused to believe Repug lies.

Where has deregulation ever succeeded?
Deregulation was a disaster on the phone companies too. Are you old
enough to remember how our phone service used to be before deregulation?
Back in the 1970's, you could call the Information Operator at 411 from
anywhere in the country, and you'd get a local operator, and you'd get
the right number, and you got all that for free. Try doing that now.

EVERYTHING Repugs say is a lie.

EVERYTHING! Always know that, and you will be fine.

Abel, from California

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Educate yourself and go to these links: http://www.buzzflash.com &
http://www.democrats.org & http://www.moveon.org

LET'S STOP WASTING AMERICAN LIVES
reads an old anti-war flier kept as a memento in the office of
Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. 30 years ago, he
passed out these leaflets to protest the Vietnam war.

AbelMalcolm@webtv.net wrote:

> It was around this time, 3 years ago, that we were hearing news of
> Americans dying in violent highway accidents, all over the country,
> because their tires blew up. Our country looked like a war zone, it
> seemed like an American was getting killed everyday. Defective
> Bridgestone/Firestone tires kept blowing up on cars as they traveled at
> highway speed, causing deadly accidents and they especially caused SUVs
> to roll over. Hundreds of Americans died until ....

the Ford Motor Company ITSELF announced there was a major problem with
the Firestone tires.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hot/Firestone/Index.html


>
> What caused the problem?
>
> It was the Republican dominated Congress who defanged and defunded the
> National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in effect, deregulating
> them in the late 1990's. The NHTSA has the responsibility to see to it
> that tire makers such as Firestone and Bridgestone make safe tires. But
> after the Repugs, in effect, deregulated the NHTSA, hundreds of people
> died from defective tires that were blowing up all over the place.

Wrong again, honey.
That's what you call a "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" fallacy.

It's not what NHTSA stopped doing in the 1990's, it's what they had
never done in the first place. It took passage of the so-called TREAD
Act (in November 2000, under a REPUBLICAN Congress) to require far more
extensive tire testing.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hot/Firestone/DOTState.html

I doubt that such a problem as with the Firestone tires could have been
detected with any tires at any time prior to that, if it had occurred.


> Firestone had to recall millions of defective tires to stop these
> deaths. People died because of what the Repugs did.
>
> There has NEVER been an example of deregulation being good for any
> business or for our country, never. Yet it is the Republicans who keep
> leading the charge to deregulate businesses.

I cannot believe you are this ignorant of history.

And I sure hope you aren't cynically calculating that many Americans
(including on this NG) are too young to remember that it was the CARTER
Administration that accomplished the first large-scale deregulation--of
the airline industry. Under Carter's inflation fighter, Alfred
Kahn--and a Democratic Congress. And after that, he deregulated the
banking industry, the rail industry and the trucking industry too.

http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/do...keylegis.phtml


> Also remember, the Repugs deregulated the Savings & Loans Industry, and
> it ended up costing us tax payers $500 billion to bail out that
> industry. And the Repugs deregulated the air line industry, and look at
> the mess it is in right now. After deregulation of the air line
> industry, in the 1970's,

This is why I cannot believe your monumental ignorance. Surely you know
which party controlled the White House and the Congress in the late
1970's, when airline deregulation occurred:

http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/do...keylegis.phtml

But you're desperately hoping that the youngsters you're trying to
sucker into your political causes don't know.

So I just told them.


--
Steven D. Litvintchouk
Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net

Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.