2016 April 7^th

Senator Bernie Sanders is “mad as hell and he isn’t going to take it anymore.” No, he did not say that, but not saying it doesn’t matter. He believes that Senator Clinton said he wasn’t qualified to be President. Let’s face it, Senator Clinton never said that either, but as far as Sanders is concerned she might as well have said it. He believes that she has been hinting at it for months. The result is that now he claims she isn’t qualified to be President, so there! That’s nonsense because Clinton is obviously well qualified to be President based on her background. Sanders is also better qualified, at least by government experience, than many previously successful candidates for the Presidency. Clinton and Sanders should grow up and stop behaving like Republicans.

Don Blankenship is in the news again. Some years back Massey Energy, a coal company Blankenship headed had one of its coal mines, the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, suffer an explosion which killed 29 miners. Coal mining is very dangerous work; odorless, explosive gasses and coal dust can collect in a mine and, if undetected, cause massive explosions. This is just what happened at the Upper Big Branch Mine.

The federal government has many safety regulations for the protection of miners but these were not strictly observed in the Upper Big Branch Mine; that would be expensive and reduce the mine’s profitability and as Don Blankenship has said, this is a capitalist society and every enterprise aims for maximum profits. Indeed Don Blankenship was a pillar of the Republican community in West Virginia and well beyond that state’s borders. He adhered closely to the party’s gospel; he denied global warming; he despised government mine safety regulations and he was not a union sympathizer.

A government investigation of this disaster found that the Upper Branch Mine had ignored the safety regulations despised by Blankenship but required by the government. There were over 350 safety violations at that mine. Of course the mine was profitable, as was Blankenship’s company, Massey Energy. As CEO Blankenship was handsomely rewarded. In 2009, just a year before the 29 miners were killed, Massey energy paid him 17.8 million dollars for his services. After the explosion and the investigation began to expose the possible criminal conduct involved, Blankenship retired. Continuing their generosity, Massey Energy provided Blankenship with a 27.2 million dollar severance package.

The federal prosecutors were also generous with Don Blankenship. He was prosecuted for his violations of safety standards at the Upper Big Bend mine; and he will serve one year in prison and pay a fine of 250 thousand dollars. That comes to about 13 days in prison and an $8,600 fine for each death his relaxation of safety standards caused. I guess it pays to be a wealthy Republican.