In Blankenship We Trust (Rush defended him today)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/blenkenship-we-trust

Jonathan Chait



Don Blankenship, owner of the Upper Big Branch coal mine that was the site of Monday's horrific explosion, is a long-time bete noir of unions, environmentalists, and government regulation of all kinds. Therefore, it is time for conservatives to start rallying to his side. Here's Chris Stirewalt of the Washington Examiner:

The day that at least 25 miners were killed in a West Virginia coal mine blast, the U.S. secretary of Labor said that they would not have “died in vain.”

What Secretary Linda Solis apparently meant was that this tragedy would be put to good use – exploited in an effort to crack down on Don Blankenship, a non-union coal operator who espouses conservative political views and spends big money to beat Democrats in elections.

Of course, Blankenship's contempt for labor and regulation is of a piece with the poor safety conditions at his mines. A 2003 profile of Blankenship in Forbes, a highly-pro-business publication, detailed the latter:

The state's Surface Mine Board, which includes the vice chairman of the state lobbying group for the coal industry, called Massey's actions at Madison "absolutely the worst behavior by any company that any member of this board has ever seen over the decades that this board has been in existence."

Over the two years through 2001 Massey was cited by West Virginia officials for violating regulations 501 times. Its three biggest rivals, mining twice as much coal in the state as Massey, were cited a collective 175 times. Blankenship says Massey is unfairly targeted by regulators. "We don't pay much attention to the violation count," he says. ...

FULL story at link.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Tough shit for the dead miners & their families. Smirk." - Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh (R)

"If they can't deal with a horde of gross safety violations, then boo frikkin hoo. Too pissass bad. We republicon fatcats absolutely have to make Massive Profits, and their petty pitiful whining about being dead and shit is no help at all when it comes time to count up the booty.

"So don't come pissin and moaning about dead miners, when what America really needs is More Tax Cuts for Rich Republicons. Smirk."

- Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh (R - $40-million-a-year common man)