google.com lists over three million hits for the word "loophole," so be ready to add several more descriptor terms related to specific laws or regulations, products or issues. Or, check out the "watchdog" groups listed below.

Loopholes are why lawyers, legislators, and lobbyists have bad reputations.

Obviously, not every lawyer, legislator, or lobbyist is a rascal. But there are enough rascals in those jobs, that they deserve special scrutiny.

Whenever laws are being drafted, or "reforms" are being announced, the typical process gives lots of time, space, and public attention to the good, to the benefits being proposed. Conversely, any disadvantages are overlooked, or concealed, buried deep within the text of huge bills, clothed in obfuscating jargon, "technicalities," added quietly (especially by legislators influenced by lobbyists) at the last minute when sessions are busy, or tacked on as minor amendments, slipped in unnoticed, especially in omnibus bills where thousand of pages can conceal them. Left dormant for a while, such loopholes can emerge later, when public attention is off.

For example, "the US Food and Drug Administration regulates only nutritional claims that draw an explicit connection between a particular product and a specific disease. More general claims that an ingredient is healthful — or that it will curb the appetite or soften skin or make you look younger — are not subject to FDA approval. That loophole troubles some nutritionists, who fear that families will mistake fortified junk food for good nutrition. "It's the whole foods that really make you healthy — the fruits and vegetables and whole grains," said Roberta Anding, a dietitian based in Houston. For more: 'Fortified' Sweets are the latest trend... by Stephanie Simon, Los Angles Times (Jan.1, 2005).

Loopholes are very hard to detect, especially for average citizens and non-experts. Thus, this is a primary reason for certain non-profit "watchdog" organizations to exist, to expose and counter such loopholes. For more, see:

Public Citizen | Common Cause | Center for Public Integrity

"Lip Service" is a kind of spin in which people intensify the "good" in public, but, in private, doing the opposite. ("Talking the talk, but not walking the walk.") As the Merriam-Webster dictionary puts it: "an avowal of advocacy, adherence, or allegiance expressed in words but not backed by deeds."

For example, politicians publicly promising good things which some voters may want, but, privately, later in the legislative process, delaying, stalling, amending, leaving legal loopholes, or not fully funding these promises.

It's easier to spot political lip service because the opposing political party or the press is apt to reveal it. But, usually no specific countering forces can match the corporate lip service and PR campaigns of vested interests (e.g. energy companies, automakers, cigarette companies) which are well staffed, organized, and funded. Some watchdogs do exist (e.g. the Sierra Club on environmental issues), medical groups (about health issues), teachers and parents (on educational issues), but these groups are usually less funded and often rely upon volunteers and donations.

Slacktivism - is another kind of lip service! See http://www.prwatch.org/node/7403