Strickland, BlacKKKwell speak to coal industry

[Schmajo]

Please follow the link and read the whole story. It shows how the direction the campaign is going, at least for a while. BlacKKKwell is going to attack Ted as someone who is ignorant about Ohio's problems and doesn't know how to solve them. All the while, HE offers no real solutions to anything, other than promoting tax cuts for the rich. And, of course, Ted's Turn Around Ohio actually DOES lay out practical, common sense strategies to address important issues.

I figure that the coal industry people listening to both candidates were able to see through Kenny's bullshit.

7/16/06
http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/07/15/20060715-E3-00.html

“In separate speeches to the Ohio Coal Association yesterday, the two major candidates for governor took different tacks, underscoring an emerging tone early in the campaign.

Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell came on hard, continually attacking his Democratic rival, Ted Strickland, who took a softer approach by offering a more detailed agenda for the state’s struggling coal industry.
***
Blackwell decried Ohio’s ‘excessive regulation of coal,’ saying Ohio is the only state that gives two agencies — the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Natural Resources — regulatory power over the industry. As governor, he said, he would meet with coal users, producers and regulators to 'figure out which of these two agencies should have singular responsibility.'

Strickland, who hails from coal country in southeastern Ohio, focused on what he would do to help the industry — including a goal of doubling the state’s annual production of coal from the current 23 million tons.
***”

[OhioBlue]

1. Strickland is impressive

he gives a more detailed plan, yet Blackwell still tries to imply that "he" (Blackwell) is the one with a better understanding of the issue.. spin spin spin. It's really all he's got.

...
"I’m sending the hound dogs after him," Blackwell said. "We’re going to track him down and make him debate the issues, side by side. We’re going to make him show that he can drill down on these issues."

...

Blackwell comes across not as a "hound dog" but more of an ankle biter.

[geiger]

2. Republicans are masters of laying seeds of doubts

they know that if they say it enough times, people who really arent paying attn to the details, begin to believe there is something to the accusation or allegation.

On a more base level, the more it is repeated, the more likely it will be remembered.

I have really strong feelings about our candidates staying positive. I think it's up to the rest of us to fight back...whether it's responding to stupid letters to the editor, or calling a reporter on sloppy reporting, or whatever you confront that you know you have to stand up to.

I HATE EVERYTHING THAT BLACKWELL STANDS FOR.

[BillORightsMan]

3. Don't trust GOP with Coal Mine Safety

File under

"FOX WATCHING HENHOUSE"


Shafts of Death
by Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn at "Eat The State"

Remember the Quecreek coal mine disaster in Pennsylvania last July? It left 9 miners trapped 300 feet underground in rushing, frigid waters for more than 3 days. Bush rushed from his Crawford Ranch for a photo op with the rescued miners in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, looking for a repeat of his performance at Ground Zero, the crowning moment of his presidency.

~snip~
What took place in Quecreek was no "accident," merely lethal normalcy, business-as-usual for the industry in the coal fields of Appalachia, where mine-and-run corporations send their workers down to extract every last yard of coal from dwindling coal seams.

~snip~
The man Bush picked to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration, David Lauriski, is a long-time coal industry executive and lobbyist.

Shortly after taking office, Lauriski bragged to a group of coal industry executives that his regulatory agenda "is quite a bit shorter than some past agendas." Indeed, death warrants usually tend towards brevity. Part of Lauriski's abbreviated agenda is to reduce the number of times a mining company has to sample coal dust levels inside the tunnels, a move that is certain to increase incidence of black lung disease. And yes, Lauriski wants to get rid of the chest X-ray program that tests miners for black lung disease.

Lauriski also wants to slash the number of mine inspectors by 25 percent, even though the lack of inspections my have been partially responsible for the Quecreek disaster.

~snip~
In addition to Lauriski, Bush also tapped Stan Suboleski for a seat on the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. Suboleski is an executive with the A.C. Massey Coal Company which, according to the United Mineworkers, has one of the worst safety records in the industry. Massey is also the company responsible for the annihilation of more than 70 miles of streams in eastern Kentucky when 300 million gallons of coal sludge spilled from one of its mines*. It was the worst ecological disaster in the US since the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

(*See A Toxic Cover-Up? Did Bush Administration Cover Up Environmental Disaster?
from April 4, 2004 at CBS - 60 Minutes)

I'm sure Kenny's plan is to GUT the Ohio EPA and release the coal companies from any meaningful oversight. I mean, he is part of the "less government - drown it in the bathtub" party, right?

[OhioBlue]

4. My b/f's Uncle "Joe" works at a mine in WV

he has been there for abt. 30 years. Massey Coal now owns it - it had been owned by 3 different entities previously. He says it is the worst it has every been the last 5 or so years under Massey in regards to safety. He's actually in the hospital now as his arm was broken in 4 places in an accident in the mine - he got caught up in a conveyor.

"Joe's" son, "Joey" works in the Sago mine - broke his leg in a mine accident just a few weeks before the tragedy when the miners were trapped. Turned out to be lucky for him as that was his crew. About a month ago, another mine was killed at Sago when a bridge collapsed. The anecdotal stories we've heard from them is that all the money the Owner solicited for donations never went to the families.

[Kolesar]

5. What the world needs is *not* double coal production in Ohio

We need to implement efficiency and urban planning on a grand scale instead of playing to the deadly paradigm of increased production. People need to learn about global warming and adjust their lifestyles to a mode that will be the best for the next generations and best for Earth. By that, I mean to conserve energy and to consume less "stuff".

Is a vacation to another time zone really worth the destruction of the planet caused by the consumption of fossil fuels? Unless you are going to sail to Florida or bicycle to the beach, that is what you are doing.