A recent article at the Huffington Post by one of the wacko writers, oh wait, it was Huffington herself, discussed the Utah mine disaster and how lax occupational health rules that were eased by, who else, George Bush, were to blame for this and many other work mishaps. I don’t know if the rules of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have been lightened by this administration but I am pretty sure that the toughest rules in the world would not have prevented an accident that some believe involved a tremor. I will not deny that the mining industry has had some serious problems with its safety record but it is insane to believe that a spiffy clean safety record could prevent a natural event that triggered the cave in, if that indeed is what caused it. Suppose some painters were working in a building and there was an earthquake and the building collapsed and killed them. Should Bush (or any person) be blamed for a lack of safety? It is illogical to think this way and amounts to nothing more than politics as usual for Huffington and her brood of ding-dongs.
I am unsure if the claims by Huffington are accurate but I know that OSHA has a ton of directives and regulations that apply to the workplace and worker safety. 29 Code of Federal Regulations (particularly the 1910 series) lays out the rules for all kinds of workplace safety programs and how compliance is expected. There are a lot of workplaces and it is certain that OSHA does not have enough people to routinely inspect workplaces. It is more likely that inspections result from a concerned worker making a call or filing a complaint. Even so, there are some things that fall directly on the shoulders of the employees themselves. Wearing hearing and eye protection, proper safety equipment and other personal protective equipment and doing things according to standard procedures are all things that the employee must do. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that their people follow the rules but I have seen far too many injuries related to worker error to discount the idea that stupidity keeps emergency rooms busy and makes ER doctors wealthy. None of this oversight or supervisor involvement would have helped the Utah miners, that is unless their supervisor could see the future and know that a cave in was going to happen.
Interestingly, Huffington decries lax worker safety under Bush but has not addressed the Democrat’s attempts to remove 2 million dollars from the Office of Labor and Management Standards. This office has been ramped up after years of lax enforcement under President Clinton. Seems this office has been real good at finding illegal practices of labor unions and has recouped 101 million dollars for labor union employees. With this kind of success against labor unions the Democrats can only do one thing and that is to cut funding so that their mob buddies in labor unions can continue illegal operations unabated. House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D.-Wis.) (a guy I dislike more as I hear more about him) is trying to cut the budget, mostly because they have been successful. Of course, success in this arena hurts the Democrat’s friends in labor and that just can not be tolerated.
Perhaps Ms. Huffington would like to spend some time writing about this instead of trying to put the blame for miners on George Bush who can no more trigger tremors than he can direct hurricanes.
I also think that perhaps the Democrats should either rethink their position of being honest and transparent or get Webster to rewrite the definition of those words. With their ability to rewrite history, a few definitions should be a cake walk.
Source:
TownHall (Robert Bluey)
Sometimes unrelated trackbacks to: Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Is It Just Me?, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Nanotechnology Today, Nuke’s News & Views, Webloggin, Phastidio.net, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, , , Stageleft, Faultline USA, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.