Fox guarding the chicken coop

Fox News is rabidly anti-Democratic, anti-liberal and fear mongering. It has been on a crusade against regulation. Of course, many economics and business books tout the virtues of deregulation.

However the reality is quite different.

Humana CEO complains

It’s On! WellPoint, Obama Administration Swap Barbs - Health Blog - WSJ: "n his Saturday radio address, Obama said his administration had asked an insurer to stop “systematically dropping the coverage of women with breast cancer.” That’s an obvious swing at WellPoint, which has been taking heat from HHS head Kathleen Sebelius following a Reuters story about the company’s alleged rescission practices.

WellPoint has denied the story’s allegations, and late Sunday CEO Angela Braly issued a letter to Obama taking issue with his repetition of “false information regarding WellPoint’s coverage of breast cancer,” reports Dow Jones Newswires. “To be absolutely clear: Despite your claims, WellPoint does not single out women with breast cancer for rescission,” Braly wrote."

An administration spokesman had this comment: “When we hear disturbing reports that an insurance company is systematically targeting women with breast cancer, we won’t hesitate to speak out. The Affordable Care Act makes rescinding health care illegal beginning next fall, and we’re glad insurance companies have pledged to end this practice before they are required to by law. We’ll be watching them closely to ensure they keep their word.”

WellPoint has also been taking heat for miscalculations in its requested rate increases in California. Last week Sebelius urged other states to also check the insurer’s math for errors. Obama said in his address that his administration has established a new Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight to help make sure insurers don’t game the system, Dow Jones reports.

Oil minerals regulation weak:

The Environmental Destruction caused by the oil spill. U.S. Oil Regulator Ceded Safety Oversight to Drillers - WSJ.com: "The small U.S. agency that oversees offshore drilling doesn't write or implement most safety regulations, having gradually shifted such responsibilities to the oil industry itself for more than a decade.

Instead, the Minerals Management Service—now caught up in the crisis of the Deepwater Horizon rig that for weeks has sent crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico—sets broad performance goals for the industry. Oil producers and drilling companies are then free to decide for themselves how to meet those goals, industry executives and former regulators say."

That's not all.

Reports Show BP Opposed New Safety Rules - WSJ.com: "As BP PLC defended its handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, documents show it argued against new, stricter safety rules proposed last year by the U.S. agency that oversees offshore drilling.

The British oil giant was one of several companies that wrote to the U.S. Minerals Management Service this past September saying additional regulation of the oil industry was unnecessary. In a letter, BP said the current voluntary system of safety procedures was adequate.

BP said Tuesday that the scale of its emergency response to the crude spill was unprecedented in the history of the oil industry. 'All accidents are avoidable and when they occur you are judged by how you respond,' BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, told reporters."

Obama Vows End to ‘Cozy’ Oversight of Oil Industry - NYTimes.com: "President Obama angrily denounced the finger-pointing among the three companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a “ridiculous spectacle,” and vowed on Friday to end what he called the “cozy relationship” between the government and the oil industry that has existed for a decade or more.

In sharp remarks during an appearance in the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama announced a review of environmental safeguards for oil and gas exploration to prevent future spills. He said that he “will not tolerate any more finger-pointing or irresponsibility” from the industry or the government over who made the mess or how to fix it.

“This is a responsibility that all of us share,” Mr. Obama said. “The oil companies share it. The manufacturers of this equipment share it. The agencies and the federal government in charge of oversight share that responsibility.”

Mr. Obama said that he, too, feels the “anger and frustration” expressed by many Americans, and particularly by residents and business people in the gulf region."

The law, enacted after the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969, mandates that federal agencies must complete a thorough environmental assessment before approving any major project, especially one including offshore drilling.

The minerals service short-circuited the process when it granted hundreds of recent drilling permits, according to documents and current and former government officials. The BP well that blew in the gulf last month was granted an exemption from the assessment process because company officials assured regulators that it carried little hazard. Officials went along with the company and granted the permit.

Cablevision broadband regulation competitive

FCC Aims for Middle Ground on Regulating Web - WSJ.com: "Big phone and cable companies, which provide much of the nation's broadband service, expressed dismay at the FCC chairman's decision to extend his regulatory authority to broadband, predicting it would damp investment and lead to court battles that could last years.

'We are very concerned about the direction this is going,' said Grant Seiffert, chief executive of the Telecommunications Industry Association, an industry lobbying group."

FCC Aims for Middle Ground on Regulating Web - WSJ.com: "Under questioning from an analyst on a conference call after its first-quarter earnings release Thursday, Cablevision Systems Corp. Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge said a move to reclassify broadband lines under '1930s laws, utility-type regulation' would be disappointing. 'We operate in a highly competitive environment,' he said."