Big government rules!

Spoken like a member of a true conservative White House:

"Under the constitution, federal laws take priority over inconsistent state laws," said Scott Milburn, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget. "Decisions about... whether particular rules should preempt state laws are made agency by agency and rule by rule."

I was always taught that conservatives and Republicans were a party of state's rights. But these rulings show the true alliance that Republicans have chosen to forge. It's big business, big money, and somewhere near the bottom is the average man made to suffer because of them. Just look at some of the latest government rulings:

The highway safety agency, a branch of the Department of Transportation, is backing auto industry efforts to stop California and other states from regulating tailpipe emissions they link to global warming. The agency said last summer that any such rule would be a backdoor attempt by states to encroach on federal authority to set mileage standards, and should be preempted.

The Justice Department helped industry groups overturn a pollution-control rule in Southern California that would have required cleaner-running buses, garbage trucks and other fleet vehicles.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has repeatedly sided with national banks to fend off enforcement of consumer protection laws passed by California, New York and other states. The agency argued that it had sole authority to regulate national banks, preempting state restrictions.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a legal opinion last month asserting that FDA-approved labels should give pharmaceutical firms broad immunity from most types of lawsuits. The agency previously had filed briefs seeking dismissal of various cases against drug companies and medical-device manufacturers.

And who best to rule on highway safety issues then former industry executives. They would have no conflict of interest at all. And in typical Bush fashion, they are all over the agencies who must decided whether people's lives of corporate largesse is more important.