Comments on: Bush Administration’s Mine Safety Record

By: J

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 04:09:13 +0000

I'm all for taking the media (that's plural, by the way) to task for failing at their job ... when they've actually failed. I don't actually see the point for complaining that you have to read the WHOLE article to get the WHOLE story. (It actually makes sense to me.) Okay, maybe you don't like that particular writer's style ... but the information is there, right? So why skewer the guy? Just read the whole dern article!

By: floyd

floyd — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 15:41:33 +0000

herb; did you read my first comment[6 above yours]? you probably don't know anyone with more contempt for gov't bureaucratic interference than i. my point is that thoughtful criticism is better than hyperbole. using scapegoats exonerates the guilty. let's blame the guilty!

By: Herb

Herb — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 13:24:28 +0000

Floyd:

While I agree with you on workplace safety, problems with the OSHA programs began with a bunch of overpaid bureaucrats who became OHSA "inspectors" and harrassed many, many businesses that were safe to begin with. As with anything the government becomes involved with, the bureaucrats screw it up with their "high and mighty" overzellous attitudes and total lack of knowledge about their jobs.

By: demiurge

demiurge — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 02:58:45 +0000

No, of course Bush doesn't "hate miners". I'm sure he'd want to have a sparkling water with them. But I'm equally sure he doesn't want to "punish the winners," i.e., the successful executives and investors in the mining business. Risk is part of the business, and I'm sure they are sufficiently punished by the expenses caused by the accident, and the need to hire and train replacements. That's right, isn't it?

By: The Glittering Eye

The Glittering Eye — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 00:30:41 +0000

Coal mine safety

There’s been a flurry of newspaper articles and posts wondering whether more could have been done to increase the safety in coal mines in the aftermath of the death of twelve coal miners this week. Our heart go out to the friends and families o...

By: floyd

floyd — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:21:01 +0000

jim; do you think that bitheads comment is not true? it sounds to me like you have no knowledge of what dangerous occupations were like before OSHA,nor are you aware of what they are like today. even so,i do hope you never get a papercut.if you do ,will you know who to blame? if you cared about safety, you would not find it more important to play politics than to seek solutions.forty years of progress in workplace safety has only been slowed by this sort of nonsense. distraction puts working people in danger,seek the truth.

By: Herb

Herb — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 20:09:42 +0000

This is the very reason that I say Democrats and leftys are born to lie. I knew it was just a metter of time before some lefty liberal would somehow blame Bush

Doesn't it make you sick.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:48:27 +0000

So, the Bush administration is definitely not guilty of a conspiracy to reduce punishment for mine owners and operators...but the media is definitely guilty of a conspiracy to make the Democrats look good Bush administration look bad.

Do you think that there might be a bias present in this sort of thinking?

By: Bithead

Bithead — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:05:27 +0000

Looks like your trackback is still trashed, James.
Here's what I've tried to track back :

Why, the answer is simple, James. It's called "the template" the rules of the template are simple if it makes the president look bad it runs on page one, above the fold. it makes the president look good or Democrats look bad, it runs on A-23 below the fold.

By: BitsBlog

BitsBlog — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 18:34:16 +0000

The Template, part III; The Coal Mine Why, the answer is simple, James. It's called "the template" the rules of the template are simple if it makes the president look bad it runs on page one, above the fold. it makes the president look good or Democrats look bad, it runs on A-23 below t...

By: floyd

floyd — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 16:52:09 +0000

enforcement should be high [even jail time] but the fines moderate. force them to spend the"fine money" on the needed improvements. that way the problems are fixed without unnecessary price increases and wage cuts.also they should concentrate on serious safety violations and differentiate between them and the petty stuff.the bureaucrats that are sent to inspect are often inexperienced or incompetent and pushy. ready to "choke on a horsefly but swallow a horse". better results are achieved through cooperative rather than adversarial approaches like OSHA's VPP volunary protection program. it works. check out the VPPPA [participants assoc.] for more information. NOTE TO BUSH HATERS..legitimate complaints have more credibility and wider appeal.

By: bryan

bryan — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 16:32:13 +0000

The paragraph about the mine agency refusing comment on a Friday afternoon seems to imply that the reporter "ambushed" the agency with a story on a Friday, when a lot of folks are winding down for the week. Did they e-mail the questions on Monday and wait until Friday? That's not clear. If they e-mailed on Friday, expecting a reply by Friday, that's a little unfair, even by journalistic standards.