Sunday, January 22, 2006

 

The Bush/Republican Disease is a Pandemic in W. Virginia

Re: An Open Letter to C Raulston, craulston@nma.org

To: The National Mining Assoc, All other mining owner trade groups and associations, All mine owners in America, The United Mine Workers, George Bush, The Republican Congress, The Good Citizens of America, The Good Citizens of W. Virginia and the families of the deceased miners

To: C Raulston,
National Mining Assoc.

Please do something in memory of the dead miners by staying out of the proposal phase of the forthcoming mine safety hearings and the subsequent legislative phase.

Your Association wants to be involved in the writing of new legislation for mine safety. Don't you think that you are 'the fox in the henhouse' and as such should recuse yourself from being involved in the writing of mine safety legislation. Don't you think that the mine owners, the Republican controlled mine safety agencies and all Republican legislators should do the same. I think this should be so because you all are the people responsible for these mine disasters. As such you cannot be impartial and write legislation on behalf of miners in America. You people have a vested interest in 'watering down' and shaping any forthcoming legislation to your own financial benefit.

My guess, despite what your website suggests, is that you do not represent miners or mine safety. I think you are not dedicated to the idea of 'three bottom lines'. In fact, I think that you are completely blind to such concepts and would pay, at best, only lip service to mine safety and 'the three bottom lines'. My guess is that your association's allegiance is to the top tier of mining company executives, to the mine owners and to the boards of directors of the mining companies. The boards of directors are, as with most american companies, merely the 'hand-maidens' and 'rubber stamps' of the CEO's and as such are equally responsible for the deaths of the coal miners in W. Virginia and all other mine employee deaths.

Your association, as a representative of the mine owners and their CEOs', is really an organization that lobbies congress(Republicans) on behalf of the mine owners and CEOs'. In other words your association's only desire is to see that all things done are to the financial benefit and legal shielding of mining company CEOs' and mining company owners. You really have no interest in protecting the safety of the miners. In addition, you all are highly likely to be Republicans and Bushies which means that you and they will do as little as possible for the safety of american miners and as much as possible to benefit the finances of the CEOs' and mine owners. All the aforementioned statements are quite simple and yet at the same time, profound.

Neither your association nor any Republicans should be involved in the making of new mine safety rules because you both will make new rules and regulations as ineffective and unenforceable as possible. You and your Republican friends in congress and members of the Bush administration should not be involved with new mine safety legislation. However, you all should/must be involved in the investigatory phase of the hearings so that you will be required to explain what the mine owners did and did not do which contributed to the deaths of the miners. Also your members could explain the things that the federal administrators and inspectors did that contributed to the miners deaths.

I know you think that these ideas sound outrageous but that is the way I think, and that is the way you and republicans in congress should think.

You and the mine owners may think that only your/their personal wealth is involved in the deaths of the miners but, in reality your/their very souls are at stake for avoiding the mine safety rules that resulted in the miners deaths.

Were I on the committee that will hold the hearings to investigate the mine safety violations I would not allow the National Mining Assoc. or any other owners groups, or the republican legislators, or the federal administrators to participate in the law making phase of the hearings. I would require that the congressional research office prepare a list of all the legislation and mine safety regulations that you and the mine owners have contributed to. I would further require that your association and all other mine owner groups and lobbyists be dissolved for a period of five years. I would require that all Bush administrators involved with any aspect of mine safety be fired from their jobs and all mine safety inspectors be investigated for misfeasance and malfeasance on their jobs.

I would require that a congressional oversight committee be formed to ensure that all of the aforementioned items are enforced and that violators thereof be heavily fined and put in jail for a period of five years. I would require that the revolving door between mining owners, mine executives and federal government employment be stopped forever.

I would require that the families of the dead miners be compensated for the losses they have suffered. I would require that the mine owners be ordered to erect a monument in memory of the deceased miners and be required to personally attend a yearly memorial ceremoney for the deceased miners. I would require that all American miners have insurance of sufficient value to see that their families have adequate income for all life expenses, including healthcare and education for their children so they may attend college or other professional and trade schools.

I believe all the aforementioned items and strategies, would cause the mine owners and mining company executives to think deeply before putting the lives of other innocent miners in jeopardy for selfish and greedy reasons.

Money is, truely the root of all evil as it drives and shapes all your decisions. I believe that the deaths of those miners is on your souls and you will have to answer to God for what you have done. But that is just my opinion.

I, as an American citizen, must see that this kind of tradegy never happens again so far as is humanly possible. I, as an American citizen must add my voice to the voices of the good people of W. Virginia and the miners families to demand that the mine owners, their CEOs', federal administrators and inspectors be held fully responsible for what they have done to cause this tragedy.

Ohio has some coal mines, will similar tragedies happen here as well. Ohio and W. Virginia are neighboring states and I have family that live in W. Virginia so the deaths of these good and innocent men are near to my heart.

The aforementioned are my commitents and responsibilities to the safety of all American miners, just axactly what are yours? Do you have any at all?

Bob t, Cleveland, Ohio





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