Corp Front Group Funded By Coal Industry Scorns Widow Of Mine Disaster: ‘Everyone Wants Free Money'

[kpete]

Corporate Front Group Funded By Coal Industry Scorns Widow Of Mine Disaster: ‘Everyone Wants Free Money’

Yesterday, the AP reported that Marlene Griffith, a widow of William Griffith, one of the 29 men killed in last week’s explosion at a coal mine in West Virginia, is suing Massey Energy, the owner of the mine. Griffith filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Raleigh County Circuit Court, arguing that Massey’s handling of work conditions at the mine plus its history of safety violations amounted to aggravated conduct that rises above the level of ordinary negligence. Marlene and here husband were to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary weeks after the deadly blast on April 5.

Indeed, as the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has reported, the mine where William Griffith worked had been cited for over 3,000 safety violations. Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who has mocked safety regulators as being “as silly as global warming,” had gummed up the safety regulations process by filing endless appeals instead of paying fines and fixing safety problems.

Responding to the lawsuit, Nathan Coffey, the Public Affairs Coordinator of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), took to Twitter yesterday to mock Marlene Griffith. Coffey posted a link to the AP story about Marlene Griffith, sarcastically commenting that “Everyone wants free money!” View a screen shot of the comment below:



more:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/17/alec-massey-mine/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Screw them!

[hobbit709]

2. If I said what I think of this ass

At the least this post would be deleted.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Everybody wants a free connection twixt brain & thorax!

said the executioner before releasing Mme. Guillotine's blade on its descent toward the tyrant's neck.

[malaise]

4. He should know

He works with the best of them.

[blogslut]

5. Roger Ebert posted the screencap on TwitPic

And that got the dude's comment spread all over Twitter:

http://twitpic.com/1gfnpf

He then posted many Tweets, proclaiming that he was sorry and he "hadn't read the story" when he made the comment. As I told him in reference to his apology, he knew very well what he was doing. The phrase "widow of miner" was in his original Tweet. Now, he's just covering his ass and pleading with people and implying that their condemnation of him is "christian".

[sendero]

6. Guess what corporate whores.....

.. a lot of mining families are going to get a SHITLOAD of "free" money from you guys because you ARE JUST TOO STUPID TO LEARN THE LESSON.