Is a miner's life worth only $230?

Is a miner's life worth only $230?
Posted on Thursday, January 05 @ 10:01:10 EST
Dennis Rahkonen
Smirking Chimp
Our hearts go out to friends and families of those who perished in the ineffably sad mining tragedy in Sago, West Virginia.

But the situation calls for more than grief. The inexcusably compromised status of worker safety in our country must be changed.

As the establishment media hem and haw in their customary, equivocating way, Internet bloggers are already disclosing what all of us should have assumed to be a foregone conclusion.

In disquieting resemblance to FEMA underfunding and crony-based ineptitude that made federal response to hurricane Katrina such a shameful debacle, the governmental agency entrusted to inspect mines and crack down on owners who violate crucial safety standards has become ineffectually toothless under the always blatantly pro-business Bush administration....