A disastrous cave-in Thursday night killed three rescue workers and injured at least six others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach six trapped miners, authorities said. Mining officials were considering whether to suspend the rescue effort.The cave-in at 6:39 p.m. was believed to be caused by what seismologists call a "mountain bump," in which shifting ground forces chunks of rock from the walls. Seismologists say such a bump caused the Aug. 6 cave-in that trapped the six men more than 3 miles inside the central Utah mine.
Keith Olbermann, however Thursday night reminded us that mine safety has been compromised with the appointment of Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, which quite frankly is a painful oxymoron. It is tough to keep up with how much incompetence and cronyism this administration has appointed (think heckuva job Brownie) and how much tragedy this cronyism lead to.
In Thursday night's broadcast of Countdown, Olbermann was sharply critical of Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Olbermann reminds viewers that Stickler, former mining company executive, has faced criticism in the past of overseeing mines with higher-than-average accident rates and ignoring problems that led to other disasters.
"When Mr. Bush nominated him for his current post," Olbermann says of Stickler, "he was opposed by the miner's union, the AFL-CIO, a Sago widow, eight out of nine Quecreek miners, Congressional Democrats and enough Republicans that Mr. Bush had to circumvent the Senate entirely to put Mr. Stickler into his current position last year as a recess appointment."
Here is the link to the video at the Huffington Post.
