I think I accidentally deleted my comment on gooper ppsychopathology (124). If it is recoverable, can it re-animated?

INcomptently yours….

Krik

If the author of the book mentioned in the article does publish those 3,000-odd flight logs, it’s going to make for interesting reading….

Kirk @ 116 – thanks for finding that article. I’m going to email Keith O and see if he can give this story some national coverage.

Hi Diane – Good for you and your work! I can’t take credit for finding the article, though – one of the careful readers on the Native Forest Council’s ‘Stumps don’t lie’ elaist found the article.

I’m just the hand-off guy :)

http://www.thoughttheater.com

Kentucky Woman @ 112

“The mines he ran when he was in the industry were some of the most dangerous and the most frequently cited for safety violations in the entire industry,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. “In fact, despite broad bipartisan support for new, more aggressive mine safety laws, Richard Stickler said in his Senate nomination hearing that no new laws were necessary.”

Must ask stupid question.

Is the driving force behind installing these incompetents’ in positions that affect so many individuals health and safety money and power?

Is that really what it is?

I think it’s a pretty interesting question myself. How can we know? We don’t have people delving into the facts (except us, of course). And what citizen journalists have come up with is very, very strange, serious and sobering. Most of the good intelligence people have either quit on principal, been fired, demoted or outed. Those are the ones who are trained to make real threat assessments.

It’s not just mine safety. The industry-backed cronies that Bush has appointed throughout ever regulatory agency in government have systematically weaked standards, safeguards, enforcement, investigative staff, etc — in every facet of society over which there was any government oversight. The Bush Administration has quietly gone about trying to dismantle any government institution that was put in place to monitor/oversee corporate activities to ensure they functioned in the public interest. Environment, energy, health and safety, financial regulation, Justice Deparment, Courts, — everything has been weakened and corrupted. That’s why retaking the Senate is so important, because we have to stop the worst appointments that Bush and the rightwing will try to get through in the last two years. They will be desperate to protect themselves.

“The mines he ran when he was in the industry were some of the most dangerous and the most frequently cited for safety violations in the entire industry,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. “In fact, despite broad bipartisan support for new, more aggressive mine safety laws, Richard Stickler said in his Senate nomination hearing that no new laws were necessary.”

Must ask stupid question.

Is the driving force behind installing these incompetents’ in positions that affect so many individuals health and safety money and power?

Is that really what it is?

I think it’s a pretty interesting question myself. How can we know? We don’t have people delving into the facts (except us, of course). And what citizen journalists have come up with is very, very strange, serious and sobering. Most of the good intelligence people have either quit on principle, been fired, demoted or outed. Those are the ones who are trained to make real threat assessments.

scarecrow, I shivered while reading your 76. I pray history doesn’t repeat itself but it very well could.

I think there are lots of disturbing parallels, but I don’t think it will be exactly the same, partly because in Vietnam there was a huge invading army from North VN that systematically overran the country once the US stopped funding and had substantially pulled out. But there could be lots of scenes of US forces being shot at literally as they’re leaving — and the right wing will try to make us forget that they were also being shot at and killed everyday while we were “staying the course.”

The American public seems to sense that we are not winning; it’s not clear they recognize that we are losing and look awful in the process, but they’re clearly uneasy about this.

Kentucky Woman @ 112

“The mines he ran when he was in the industry were some of the most dangerous and the most frequently cited for safety violations in the entire industry,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. “In fact, despite broad bipartisan support for new, more aggressive mine safety laws, Richard Stickler said in his Senate nomination hearing that no new laws were necessary.”

Must ask stupid question.

Is the driving force behind installing these incompetents’ in positions that affect so many individuals health and safety money and power?

Is that really what it is?

Yes. If you can’t get Congress to deregulate the industry and cripple unions, then the only other way is to deregulate by fiat, putting someone in won’t enforce existing law or will use the regulatory process to do the same thing.

Reagan did the same thing. During his tenure, Kentucky was way high on the list of states with unsafe and illegal mines. When Reagan took office, there were 50 mine inspectors in that state–24 in Harlan County alone–and by the time he left office, there were two, one each for the eastern and western halves of the state.

No oversight, no regulation.

All of it just sickens me. Thank you for your insight.