nbcrusader said:
The simple, elegant version of a point I was trying to make.
yes, but it's more fun to take shots directly at me.
i'm just getting warmed up.
mine safety is a major issue, and what's been going on since 2001 is just starting to come to the surface.
as for the similarities between this and katrina, let's avoid a misunderstanding at the outset for those more literal minded -- no one is saying that George Bush killed coal miners, or that George Bush created the fiasco at the superdome or blew up the levees. but what Katrina revealed was the fact that we have a massive problem with an enormous, and largely african-american, underclass in this country who don't seem to have any sort of political consequence. this could lead into a whole discussion on the current tax structure since 2001, but that's a bit too much for this thread ... and what this disaster is revealing is the fact that coal mining is exceedingly dangerous (and the fact that it's virtually the only decent paying job in the region if you don't have a college degree, so if you have a wife and kids, what choice do you really have?), and that safety inspections and regulations don't always do their jobs. why? where is it coming short? shit does happen, but how do we equip people to respond when shit happens? what can we do better? are we doing as much to safeguard the safety of miners as we have in the past?
what i am saying, and i think this is really rather hard to dispute, is that when a political party obsessed with deregulation and the dismantling of health, environmental, and safety standards comes to power, the safety of the planet and the safety of those who work in such positions decreases.
this also ties into the Abramhoff scandal, but that's another can of worms.
i think we're all better off, yes, as Dread said, taking a deep breath; but we shouldn't shy away from discussing an issue, speculating, drawing connections, connecting dots, and trying to gain a better understanding of both the state of safety of coal mining in this country -- and in general ... every year, thousands upon thousands of chinese coal miners die, and we never hear about it -- and the state of this particular mine.
if we don't ask questions and make links, we'll never learn anything and we'll never get anywhere and more people will die. were these particular deaths preventable? we don't know. are potential future mining deaths preventable? you bet your ass they are. so let's start asking questions, and not bash those who do.