Massey's Killer Coal Baron Don Blankenship: Safety Regulators "As Silly As Global Warming"

[Turborama]

Run time: 00:44 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geAsdtZkJpg   Posted on YouTube: April 12, 2010 By YouTube Member: climatebrad Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: April 12, 2010 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 9013

 
http://www.youtube.com/user/climatebrad">climatebrad — 11 April 2010 — 9/5/09: At an anti-union rally he sponsored on Labor Day in Holden, WV, killer coal baron Don Blankenship attacks the Mine Safety and Health Administration and elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts "as silly as global warming."

BLANKENSHIP: We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. As someone who has overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don't need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you. But I also know -- I also know Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than we do is as silly as global warming.



Must see TYT video that explains how this is utter bullshit...

TYT: Exposed - The Truth Behind The WV Mine Tragedy
Summary: Cenk explains how the pursuit of profit trumped the value of human life at Massey Mines with the help of political connections and money.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x453468

The contents of this thread prove it, too...

Massey Energy Have a 2.8 BILLION GALLON Coal Slurry Pond Sitting Above an Elementary School!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8125645#8132120

-

[Bolo Boffin]

1. This guy

He should maybe go looking for those miners down there and not come back until he can bring them back alive.

[Bluzmann57]

2. This motherfucker is proof

That you can take the poor out of white trash, but you cannot take away the trash. And you can't take away the dirty bastard either. That guy should be in prison.

[The Gunslinger]

3. He needs to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

[StopTheNeoCons]

21. +1m

[tsstranger]

28. What a prick

This asshole needs to be beaten into a stain.

[PinkFloyd]

50. What he did was no better than a drunk driver who killed people

[Truth2Tell]

55. Far worse IMO

The drunk driver kills as the result of stupidity/irresponsibility/addiction etc.

This guy kills for profit and power.

[PinkFloyd]

57. I see what you're saying and you're right.

When a drunk gets behind the wheel they don't think they'll wreck. But Blankenship had to know ignoring all these violations would eventually get people killed.

[Subdivisions]

4. Does this guy have children in his life? Like his own kids? Or grandkids? Sheesh! n/t

[abq e streeter]

5. Can't ignore the people cheering the speech either

that may be even more upsetting than the disgusting BS coming out of his mouth.

[midnight]

32. I hope those aren't other miners, but managers ignoring safety....

[abq e streeter]

51. I thought it'd be in bad taste to speculate on that so soon after this horrible tragedy

but we all know very well the sad phenomenon of white working class people that are barely getting by, supporting the very forces that keep them down...Someone downthread said they looked it up and this was a tea party rally, and hard to imagine that there weren't plenty of people as I just described, cheering those who keep them poor and in constant danger.

[happygoluckytoyou]

52. IN A RELATED STORY 100 teabaggers with 200 teeth attended this rally

[ckimmy57]

34. I agree

I was just as furious about thge idiots cheering as I was at this big bag of blubber flapping his lips. Or was those folks "staged" to give him support?

[drm604]

6. Notice how he's dressed?

Tell me that's not calculated. Talk about wrapping yourself in the flag...

[kas125]

9. Those people never fail when it comes to hypocrisy. They

somehow think that wearing clothing that desecrates the flag they claim to love so much is patriotic. In reality, it's idiotic.

[YOY]

24. "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." -Teddy Roosevelt.

Today's Republicans do it in spades. Drape themselves in the flag and say inhuman shit.

Idiots cheer because much like "Who would abuse the name of God?" there is a thought to "Who would say unpatriotic things while waving the flag."

[progressoid]

29. How can you NOT notice it.

I fly my flag on national holidays and for special local events.

I don't use it to cover my fucking bald head or stretch it over a pot belly. I guess that doesn't make me quite as good of an American as this ass.

[Lasher]

49. I've got a shirt that looks like that one.

I usually just wear it on the 4th, Vets Day, times like that.

When I saw The Evil Blankenship wearing his, my first impulse was to burn mine. But I refuse to let jingoistic right wing extremists co-opt the flag.

[Capitalocracy]

7. Very revealing video that everyone should watch, thanks

He's right, it is equal in silliness to global warming. Both are DEAD F'ING SERIOUS

[tomm2thumbs]

8. he can wear the flag on his back, but it means nothing if he doesn't wear it in his heart /nt

[Kajsa]

30. Beautifully stated, Tomm.

May I borrow that?

:thumbsup: :)

[tomm2thumbs]

64. yup!

take.

It is obvious they think it makes up for their dark souls by sticking a flag pin on, wearing a red-white-blue hat or carrying an Uncle Sam poster. Then they run home and attack fellow Americans and undermine the country by shipping jobs to more profitable countries, all the while claiming patriotism.

They are sickening really.

[Petrushka]

10. K & R

[Birthmark]

11. Yeah, Blankenship!

What kind of idiot would believe in the laws of physics, anyway? You start getting the snake-oil book learning and pretty soon you'll be all et up with empathy and respect for others. How ya gonna turn a profit on that, I ask you?

Jeez, and this ass-clown is allowed to roam the streets like he was sane or something?

Helluva country we got.

[AlbertCat]

41. What kind of idiot would believe in the laws of physics, anyway?

Yeah... the laws of physics have nothing to do with the properties of Methane gas..


....or the burning of coal...or the finding and extracting of coal. Science is just USELESS!

[TrollBuster9090]

12. "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"

And if you're a HUGE scoundrel, you have to actually WEAR the flag.

Yeah, yeah...safety regulations are a "big government" attempt to take away the constitutional rights of the miners to die in horrible mine accidents.

[sabrina 1]

13. Omg, Turborama, you were right about this

raising someone's blood pressure!

This is what evil looks like, and dressed in an American flag. That is a crime in itself.

If you haven't watched him on this video, don't if think you've seen enough. But it is like watching evil in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9lBWdK37VM&feature=related

'The survival of the fittest' ~ he says that we all have to accept that we 'live in a Capitalist Society and only the most competent survive'.

Why hasn't he been arrested yet? And it better be the Feds who go find him because it seems he and Massey own everyone in WV.

[sabrina 1]

14. I just checked to see where that rally was where he felt the need

to wrap himself in the flag. Apparently it was at a tea-party rally which also featured Hannity and others. Blankenship seems to have sponsored the rally with some of the money he earns killing miners.

[ckimmy57]

36. Ah ha

now we know why all the cheers...freakin tea party imbeciles. I say put those worthless bastards in the mines and lets see how much those safety regulations mean then.

[earcandle]

15. Biting the Ugly Biscuit

Kansas Song

[SleeplessinSoCal]

16. Love the outfit. False Patriot much?

[PinkFloyd]

39. Damn, you read my mind.

His outfit alone SCREAMS that he's an asshole and full of shit too. Someone with real patriotism doesn't need to drape themselves in the flag to feel American. In fact, I bet if that guy was offered enough money he'd sell our military secrets to China if he was ever given the chance.

[rasputin1952]

17. This knuckle-dragger needs to be indicted for manslaughter...

I guess all f the "experience" in mining coal w/o respect to mine safety, really paid off...:grr:

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Premeditated murder if he knew the mine was unsafe and went on

sending the men down there.

The "Friends Of Coal" will be able to find more kids to kill, in the class that graduates from high school this spring. Multiple Choice for the kids here...
A. The coal mine
B. The Army
C. Go West Young Man, Go West

Ain't capitalism grand...for guys like Dirty Donnie?

[LynneSin]

19. Yes but look, he wears a flag shirt so we should all trust him.....

:sarcasm:
He brings shame to that flag!

[Altoid_Cyclist]

20. It's utter madness that the MSHA doesn't have the power to shut down a time bomb.

The regulatory agencies have been rendered largely impotent in the last 20 or so years. You would think that a mine and a mine owner with that many serious safety violations could be shut down until the mine is made safe for the people actually working in the mine.

I mean how many times can a mine be cited for something as dangerous as lack of proper ventilation and still be allowed to operate? Come on Congress Critters, stop worrying about steroids in baseball and other earth shattering items and do something about ass&%$@s like Blankenship who are able to get away with murder for a better bottom line.

Things might have changed over the years since my Dad died. He was a Meat & Poultry Inspector for the USDA in the 50's, 60's and 70's before early onset Alzheimers got him. At that time, he had the authority to unilaterally shut down a processing plant if it didn't meet the requirements to operate safely. He didn't like to do it, but he refused to allow practices that were dangerous or unsanitary and would not allow the plant to re-open until it met his standards.

Now the Government allows the sacrificial killing of miners because of the inordinate money and power that reptiles like Blankenship can throw at politicians and regulatory agencies.

Blankenship would be more honest if he just dressed as the Grim Reaper instead of the American flag. What a true POS he is.

[Love Bug]

22. Is is just me, or is there an inverse relationship between the level of intelligence

and the amount of flag paraphernalia displayed by these yahoos?

[Botany]

23. No doubt some of the very miners he was speaking to at this right wing ..

.... jerk off rally last summer died in his mine 4/5/2010.

[mstinamotorcity]

25. Mr. Blankenship

should be held accountable for the mine explosion. I get really agitated when I see rich people who take advantage of their workers and use their monetary power to belittle the human spirit. I look at the conditions that were before the west virginians.The town that most of these miners live in have only the mine.They have their homes,the church,and the coal mine. The town is centered around the coal mine. There are no frivolities in them hills. The mine determines what gets put around them. They have limited communication and access to knowledge. Mr. Bankenship (no mistake) even controls the information they receive. Its not like he is letting other business and industries in the areas where his mines are.Thats right no fast food joints,cell phone stores,no geek squad. Just the mine. Donate to the churches in the area and the patrons of the church tithe and all the money the church receives is from the mine.Donate to local politicians and now you have bought the integrity of the inspectors,local agencies for workers rights,and area courts. So what do West Virginians have except each other,a hard work ethic,and the coal mine. Mr. Bankenshit (no mistake) has made himself almost like the answer to it all supreme one. He controls all the entities to their very paycheck. If they don't go into the mines they don't eat.Mean while he enjoys the privilege of eating and living high on the hogs at the expense of the lives of loyal hard working individuals who only require a safe working environment. Time for America to green up more to cut the need for production of coal or make all coal mines union mines and levy stiff penalties for non compliance with no appeal process for violations on dangerous gases and ventilation.Immediate closure of any mine that violates air quality levels.And manslaughter charges for owners who operate under these conditions and death occurs.

[Botany]

26. Not only does he control the miners and their families lives he controls ....

... much of the legal and political system in West Virginia w/ his money.



Here he is w/ a judge from the Supreme Court of West Virginia on the Riviera living it up.
This guy is now running for the U.S. House from West VA.

[ensho]

27. he has paid off whatever official that would stop him

the man needs to be in prison.

safety in the mines CAN happen but not as long as Blankenship and his money is around.

[mod mom]

31. Can someone pls explain why he hasn't been arrested. Really!

[AlbertCat]

44. Can someone pls explain why he hasn't been arrested. Really!

It's WV....really!

[mod mom]

63. Just heard on NPR this am that foreman & supervisors are liable for prosecution but CEOs are....

protected by the law and can not be prosecuted. :mad: Our justice system is a mockery of justice.

[Autonomy]

33. "Is as silly as global warming...

but not as silly as my flag costume."

[april]

35. what a pig with lies

[GoldenOldie]

38. Killer robber baron, draped in The Red White and Blue????

Is he not also the Director of The Chamber of Commerce which sacrifices the Main Street, small business' to sate the corporate greed? While killing his own employees, I bet he also patriotically bemoans the deaths of the 9-11 victims. He resembles the evil twin of Dick Cheeney.

[asdjrocky]

37. Don't let me any where near this fucker.

I will take his fucking head off.

[sui generis]

40. and drapes himself in the flag, literally.

Mr. Blankenship I think you DO need someone to tell you about mine safety . . . because it clearly wasn't.

[unpossibles]

42. I don't understand the deregulation/small government crowd

they want to remove the people being bribed (essentially politicians), but ignore the people doing the bribing, AND the reason they are paying them off in the first place. I wonder if they also believe in removing their front doors in order to prevent their house being broken into....

[AlbertCat]

45. I wonder if they also believe in removing their front doors in order to prevent their house being br

Well, they do believe that not paying taxes will benefit the country.... so.....

[4lbs]

43. Massey Mines made over $100 million in profit last year.

Had they spent just 5 percent of that profit on safety, this mining accident doesn't happen and 29 miners aren't dead.

[Amonester]

62. They don't caRe about other people's lives.

They only caRe about them when they're not born yet.

That disgusting POS should have been incarcerated a long time ago.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. the soul-less evil ones

like to wear flagschwag.

They identify their brothers and sisters in sewage that way.

[jgraz]

47. This is an area where the death penalty can have a real deterrent effect

Strap a few of these murderous execs to the electric chair and the rest will shape up in a big hurry.

[Lars77]

48. He needs more flags

He didnt even bother to tattoo flags on his eyelids. This guy hates america.

[Woodlands Democrat]

53. Corporate Killers

This murderer belongs in prison for life. Sadly, he'll probably get a big fat bonus for putting profits over human lives. The same kind of crap goes on in the offshore oil and gas business too. Except in the offshore waters, you'll never see an OSHA inspector. Only douche bag company men pencil whipping safety and "incident" reports.

[sonias]

54. Welcome to DU Woodlands Democrat!

:hi:

OSHA was decimated by the Bush administration. The Obama administration is trying to rebuild it.

Good article in The Nation about the New Sheriff - Hilda Solis

The Nation 3/25/10
Hilda Solis: Labor's New Sheriff

Editor's Note: The mine explosion in West Virginia on April 5 is the worst since a 1984 accident at Wilberg, Utah. As a union safety expert, Joe Main was on the scene then; he's now the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration at the Department of Labor, which under Hilda Solis is taking a tough stand on labor law violations.

In 1984, on the Wasatch Plateau in southern Utah, the Wilberg coal mine, a property of Emery Mining, exploded into flames. Witnesses described plumes of dark gray smoke billowing up into the heavens. Twenty-seven coal miners were trapped inside. By the following night it was clear none of them would make it out alive. "If hell existed," the Salt Lake Tribune reported, "it was down in the Wilberg mine."

David Lauriski was Emery's chief safety officer when Wilberg caught fire, an accident later attributed to numerous violations at the mine. The owners, it turned out, had been trying for a one-day production record. Seventeen years after the disaster, Lauriski became George W. Bush's first mine safety chief, a perch from which he halted a dozen new safety regulations initiated under Clinton, advocating instead a more "collaborative" approach with industry. His successor was also from private industry; during a stint as a state regulator, his lax enforcement played a role in another mining disaster, this one at the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania.

Now, for the first time in its history, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), a division of the Department of Labor (DoL), is headed by a union man, Joe Main. Main began his working life as a teenager in 1967, doing the precarious work of sinking a coal mine shaft in West Virginia. By 19 he was a mine safety committeeman, later joining the United Mine Workers' health and safety department, where he worked for decades. He was working for the union at the time of the Wilberg fire and rushed to the scene. He recalls spending four or five days there during the grueling rescue and recovery operation. "It took us a year to recover the last miner," he recalls, "and I dealt with the families a lot during that time. It's something that's stayed with me my whole life." Main was confirmed by the Senate in late October; six weeks later he launched a major national initiative to end black lung disease.

[Incitatus]

56. This video should help in a civil suit.

The families should sue that asshole for every penny he's worth.

[ladywnch]

58. so I guess using the American flag as clothing is now an okay thing.

I remember when it was considered treasonous to use the flag (or flag print) as anything but the flag


oh, BTW........what a POS human being!

by all means, lets select another industry professional to 'oversee' the industry....i mean, what could go wrong?

[PurgedVoter]

59. Exactly why is Blankenship not considered a murderer?

This is well past reckless endangerment. This is also not simply stuff that went on without his knowledge. These deaths were caused by his actions. Illegal actions he took knowing that deaths would be caused. Is being in business an excuse that allows someone to set traps and kill random people?

Seriously how is this different from arson for profit?

Is being a sociopath and a mass murderer expected in business? Or does being in business mean that the willful violation of law causing the deaths of many is not a crime. Seems like we don't need in this case to regulate business, we just need to enforce laws. We also need to see exactly who aided and abetted murder and put them on trial for doing so. Enforcing laws is much simpler than regulations on business.

Did he make money as part of his pursuit of crime? Then it should all be forfeit. Just like in a drug case, take his car, house, everything until he is proven innocent of murder. Apparently running a mining company means you can kill people.

[defendandprotect]

60. "As Silly as Global Warming" . . . !! This is ignorance and greed on a world class scale!! Murder!

[dorkulon]

61. Inadvertently correct: both are equally silly, which is to say not at all. nt