Guarding the henhouse

MANIFESTO

I know others have said this better and more forcefully, but the whole Utah mine disaster has turned into yet another example of just how the Bushies deny their role in promoting the general welfare. Kos has a good rundown on Richard Stickler, chairman of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The money paragraph:

"Mine safety czar" Richard Stickler is an industry insider. His biography notes six years as director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety, and 37 years in the industry. What this vague commentary fails to explain is that most of this time was spent as an Executive -- a situation which led the wife and daughter of a miner killed at Sago to write lawmakers urging them to reject Stickler's nomination: "Mr. Stickler is a longtime coal executive and because of his connections with the coal industry, we are concerned that his primary objectives may be solely on compliance and production, not on miners' health and safety." Statistics reveal that the mines Stickler managed from 1989 to 1996 had injury rates double the national average.

At this point, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. I suppose that after having a Secretary of Education who hated teachers, a Secretary of the Interior who hated the environment, etc., etc., etc., it shouldn't be surprising that President Unelected should appoint (under the cover of darkness) a chairman of the Mine Safety and Health Administration who doesn't care about miners' safety.