so why bring this tragedy up with the bush debachle? his person in charge of mining safety, richard stickler, is one of those uniquely qualified individuals, no not how brownie was qualified to lead FEMA because he was the (failed) leader of the arabian horse association, but he is qualified because he was a lobbyist for the coal industry. not the miners, the mine owners. so you know what his deal is. similar to how the environmental agencies were stuffed with former lobbyists and presidents of big oil, this guy is there to look out for the interests of mines instead of the people who work them. and he has sure done a heckuvajob in looking out for those interests, as documented in this clip from last thursday's "countdown with keith olbermann" (thanks to olberman.org for the link- http://olbermann.org/ko/video_detail.cfm?id=5503 )
isn't it interesting that in the years since mining deaths have been statistically kept, deaths have gone down from the start of the roosevelt administration (franklin delano) until last year when 48 miners were killed. think about that- in the times when miners used pickaxes and lanterns and canaries to trowl through the earth there have been fewer and fewer deaths until the modern era, with modern equipment and techniques. so one would think that that trend should continue when it would be inconcievable that a person was killed in a mining accident. it hasn't happened.
since the sago mining accident in west virginia, there were studies done of what could make mining safer. congress didn't have the balls to make any of these recomendations federal. and at that time it was quite understandable. the republican christian conservative "permanent majority" didn't have the brain function to question anything that came out of the bush white house. and most of these recomendations co$t $om€ $om€ $eriou$ ca$h. so of course mine operators aren't going to enact them. now look where it got us. those 12 miners at sago have died for nothing because the federal government didn't (or more rather WON'T) learn from the disaster. these six have been added to the list. how many more will it take to get some changes made? 20? 30? 100?
add this to the long list of regrettable legacies this administration has foisted upon the country: an endless quagmire in a foreign country for a resource that it is unable to control because of the unstability the war caused, the scorn of the international community because of human atrocities such as human torture, biological atrocities such as producing about half of the world's greenhouse gases, and this war, the treatment of its own citizens as referenced to the katrina debachle in new orleans and the treatment of its own SOLDIERS wounded and otherwise from extending tours of duty from 6 months to 12 months to 18 months (because since the bush administration has gotten involved in iraq, enlistments have gone down so much to the point where the armed forces have had to raise age limits and change their screening processes to allow more unstable people in), to the conditions of the wounded soldiers' hospital rooms, to the political coverup of nfl player pat tillman's heroic
death/accident/fratricide/deliberate murder, the state of the middle class in this country where universal healthcare is so elusive in this country but not other industialized nations, and on and on.
but after the democrats siezed both houses of congress the rats have been fleeing the sinking ship known as ss. bush 43. not because the dems have gotten things passed (the dems are spineless powerseeking whores just as much as the republicans are); because they don't have a veto proof majority in the house, and they have a 50-49 edge in the senate. no they are fleeing because that bare majority has given the dems subpoena power and the ability to exercize oversight on the executive branch. notable names who have jumped ship: tony snow and the biggest name, bush's political brain karl rove. snow is significant because he is a former talking head of the republican party's cable mouthpiece the fair and balanced fixed noise ERRRRR fox news channel. rove is especially significant because it was his lowdown, unethical, devisive, confrontational, uncompromising, christian sympathetic, hot button strategies that not only got republicans in power, but also got democratic congressmen
fighting for their political lives trying to defend their records but also trying to (unsuccessfully) get campaigns on issues that mattered. he wanted to build a permanent majority in congress to ramrod its policies through the nation.
it may have worked.
for the wrong party.
and lets pray to [insert favorite deity or generic one here] that it isn't too late for the country (and the world) to get over the disastrous legacy of the worst president in the history of the modern free world ever.
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