While the United States Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Iraq, the Philippines and west Africa defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world,” the ostensibly pro State sovereignty Republican (fascist/socialist) President George W. Bush signs the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 2005 “to provide for the regulation of all contact lenses as medical devices.”  Thus pre-empting the prerogative of the states.

        NOTE: The 2004 Republican Party Platform contained the following passages:

        “Our leaders must make sure that the growth of the federal government remains in check.

        “We must maintain our commitment to free and fair trade, lower taxes, limited regulation, and a limited, efficient government that keeps up with the new realities of a changing world.

        “We endorse creating a commission to evaluate discretionary spending on federal agencies and programs to ensure that taxpayer funds are being used for the best, most efficient purposes. Such a commission would determine whether certain programs are duplicative, wasteful or inefficient, outdated or irrelevant, or failed. It would recommend to Congress programs that could be terminated, moved, or restructured to make the government more efficient.”

        [added 1/27/2024] Thanks to Jim Lorenz for this entry. 

        Mel Hooker, Chief of Human Resource Management Service for the Department of Veterans Affairs, orders that Laura Berg, a nurse, at a VA clinic in Albuquerque, (Federal Enclave of) New Mexico, be investigated for sedition, for having written a letter to the editor, criticizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s post-Katrina efforts, in New Orleans, louisiana.

        [added 1/27/2024]