As heard on Rush Limbaugh today! (listen for the Jed plug!)

Apparently, the left will stoop to any level - any at all - in order to make a cheap political point. With the horrible accident ongoing and the fates of some miners still not known, the propagandists have already begun linking the West Virginia mining disaster to Tea Parties, global warming, and capitalism. Oh, and remember when President Bush somehow got blamed for the Sago mine disaster?! Surely, the Chosen One could have done something for these poor down-trodden workers…

Take a look at how this thing is shaking out:

Crooks and Liars: Left-Wing Blogs Link CEO With Tea Parties

Meet Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company. Blankenship is also on the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce. Massey Energy Company, Blankenship’s highly successful strip-mining and mountaintop removal operation is the parent company of Performance Coal Co, where a tragic explosion occurred on April 5th. As of this writing, 25 miners have died and 4 more are still missing. Twenty-five families are without a loved one. Four more may discover they have lost someone they love too. 29 families in all, forever changed by one single, violent event in a coal mine. One single violent event in a coal mine run by a company so obsessed with profit it runs roughshod over employees’ and neighbors’ health and safety.  Here’s something else about Don Blankenship and Massey Energy Company: Blankenship spent over $1 million dollars along with other US Chamber buddies like Verizon to sponsor last year’s Labor Day Tea Party, also known as the “Friends of America Rally.” Here’s Massey’s pitch. Note how he makes it sound like he isn’t one of the corporate enemies of America.

CBS News: Bashes Mine Owner For Denying Man-Made Global Warming Theory:

“Believe me yet? Global warming is a hoax and a Ponzi scheme.” Those are the words from a Feb. 19th tweet written by Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who is in the spotlight following the deaths of 25 miners at his company’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia. A CBS News review of Blankenship’s tweets since early January finds him railing against environmentalists. Blankenship takes the Sierra Club to task for tying up the legal system with “frivolous lawsuits.” He criticizes environmentalist activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for taking government subsidies for his solar business, “RFK Jr. says green jobs will replace coal jobs. He’s spending $1.4 billion to create 86 solar jobs. Massey employs 6000 workers. Do the math.”

Oh, I get it. Deny global warming theory - you must be a bad person… and … your mine blows up??!! What?

Associated Press: Link “Big Profits” To Deaths

The coal mine rocked by an explosion that killed at least 25 workers in the nation’s deadliest mining disaster since 1984 had been cited for 600 violations in less than a year and a half, some of them for not properly ventilating methane — the highly combustible gas suspected in the blast.  The disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine has focused attention on the business and safety practices of the owner, Massey Energy, a powerful and politically connected company in Appalachia known for producing big profits, as well as big piles of safety and environmental violations and big damage awards for grieving widows.

Salon Headline - “How to connect mining disasters and climate change”:

Massey’s safety record and its CEO’s position on energy policy both intersect at one point anything that threatens the profitability of “running coal” must be opposed, whether that’s the science of climate change or building the appropriate number of mine overcasts. Environmentalists are often criticized by conservatives for embracing the science of climate change because it fits neatly with their ideological positions on conservation and sustainability. I think there is certainly some truth to that. But I’d argue that there is even more truth to the opposite position: Energy company executives and the politicians who carry their water reject science and oppose energy legislation because it conflicts with their ideological belief that anything that interferes with private profit-making is evil government intrustion. The wonder of Massey’s Don Blankenship is how consistent he is. Whether the problem is properly ventilating a mine, or keeping the entire atmosphere of the globe stable, he’s sticking to his guns. If it will hurt his bottom dollar, he’s opposed.

And finally some sanity from The American Spectator:

Remember When Bush Was Blamed For Mine Deaths?: The death toll in the West Virginia mining accident has now reached 25, with the recovery efforts suspended for now because the area is not safe for rescue workers. At this time, our hearts all go out to the families of the workers who perished in this horrible tragedy. Reading news accounts of the event, it strikes me that during the Bush administration, disasters like this were immediately seized upon to score political points. Specifically, when the Sago mine disaster happened in 2006, it was used as yet another example of Bush rewarding oversight positions to corporate allies who would allow lax standards to prevail. For instance, in the wake of the Sago tragedy, Scott Lilly of the Center for American Progress wrote a column entitled, “How Many Brownies are there in this Administration?” He wrote that, “The terrible story from West Virginia that blanketed the nation’s television screens this week should be a further reminder of the cost of corrupt and incompetent government.” Noting that the Sago mine had a horrible safety record, Lilly asked rhetorically why nothing was done. “The answer to that is directly attributable to the individuals in whose hands the safety of miners and other workers has been placed by this administration and the prevailing mind set within the administration on any issue in which business interests differs from those of workers,” he wrote.

Think of the political hay the left could make over a catastrophic meteorite strike or even an attack by Godzilla! I suppose those also would be blamed on global warming, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and corporate greed.<—>