Rising Hegemon
The country's highest-paid coal executive, Blankenship is a villain ripped straight from the comic books: a jowly, mustache-sporting, union-busting coal baron who uses his fortune to bend politics to his will. He recently financed a $3.5 million campaign to oust a state Supreme Court justice who frequently ruled against his company, and he hung out on the French Riviera with another judge who was weighing an appeal by Massey. "Don Blankenship would actually be less powerful if he were in elected office," Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia once observed. "He would be twice as accountable and half as feared."
On the national level, Blankenship enjoys a position of influence on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has led the fight to kill climate legislation...
Here he is, in his flag-shirt wavin' glory.
Apparently this was at a concert he sponsored with "well-known" friend of working people everywhere Sean Hannity & Ted Nugent.
What a trio.
10 comments:
Nice nugget of insight. How long before big media furnishes us with a report about such shenanigans?
Of course, his deep concern will overshadow any hit of indifference.
From the US flag code: "(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free."
I keep hoping against hope that, one day, this country will finally figure out that the country would be better off by putting white collar criminals in jail.
when was the last time a governor shut down an unsafe mine? or put a reckless operator out of business? tolerating continual and habitual violations seems to be the norm.
They should send those fat-assed pieces of shit down into the mines as rescue workers.
I come from a coal mining family. My grandfather and uncle died with Black Lung. Another uncle works for a competitor mine of Massey and says they are notorious for their shabby and dangerous treatment of their workers.
I know where Montcoal is, and have driven past it hundreds of times in my lifetime. My heart goes out to the families and friends there. It's a miner's families worst nightmare.
He is the living embodiment of why we need unions and OSHA, as well as why capitalism is inherently evil.
sadly, he most likely has no chance of getting black lung. or drinking shitty water.
Reminded me of some a file I kept on former the Decider, Tipsey McDrinkey. I called the file, "Watch what he does, not what he says".
Molly Ivins, 29 August 2002:
“Bush went to Pennsylvania to meet with the nine coal miners rescued earlier this summer to congratulate them. He also cut the budget for the Mine Safety and Health Administration by $4.7 million out of $118 million total.”
More from Ivins:
"Sometimes (Bush) even cuts your program before he comes to praise it. In August 2002, Bush held a photo op with the Quecreek coal miners, the nine men whose rescue had thrilled the country. By then he had already cut the coal-safety budget at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which engineered the rescue, by 6 percent, and had named a coal-industry executive to run the agency." (Molly Ivins, Mother Jones, November/December 2003 Issue )
I'll have to dig around a bit, but there was also another record, probably a link, where Drinkey's Interior Dept. made a big to-do over a reinforcement of mine safety and mine safety standards. A huge grant to mine safety was made public. The beneficiary of this mine safety? China!
I concur with Montag. It's way past time to start jailing white-collar criminals. They have done great and lasting damage to the country. We can begin with the bankers, but if anyone wants to put Blankenship in front of Lloyd Blankfein in the SuperMax Line, I don't think anyone will argue.
Make good money five dollars a day. Made anymore i might move away.
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