Will no one impeach this moron president before he kills more people? For the last two weeks I've been sympathizing with both the victims and the owners of the Crandall Canyon Mine tragedy. I thought that the officials in charge knew what they were doing, and were doing everything they could, and that the whole thing was just a terrible, unfortunate, unpreventable accident. Now, it seems, the ghost of FEMA past is raising its ugly head again. There is a position in the federal government called the Mine and Health Safety Administrator, and the person in that position is Richard Stickler. Richard Stickler had twice been refused the position by Congress, even during the Republican lead years, due to his record as a mining exec. His safety record is riddled with fatalities and "...an incident rate that was often twice the national average." So, rather than search for someone who could actually do the job right, The Shrub Prince slipped Stickler into the job as a recess appointment. You might remember that little presidential loophole when Congress told Bush no to John Bolton as UN Ambassador, then Bush appointed him anyway while Congress was on vacation. And that went just swimmingly, didn't it?
So, even though federal law requires the mine administration to handle all communication in such cases, the feds sat on their hands for two days while Bob Murray held numerous press conferences where he spewed vitriol at scientists, bile at the press, and false hopes at the families of the victims.
Heckuva job, Bobby...and you too, Mr. President.
Marius
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