Sometimes Rand Paul's anti-regulatory mouth gets him into trouble. Earlier this election season, he got into hot water with miners for suggesting the federal government shouldn't be involved in mine safety. He then later said he still "thinks miners, mine operators and mine regulators in Kentucky know what works best to keep Kentucky miners safe."

The problem is that state by state regulations, or lack thereof, create lax loopholes in the law big enough to drive a truck through. I don't doubt Rand "I'm not for the Civil Rights Act" believes that racist state legislators and officials knew what worked best when it came to voting laws, too.

So Blue America friend AmericansForAmericaPAC is going up on the Kentucky airwaves about it:

This ad is running on WXCC "Coal Country Radio" in the eastern Kentucky and in Madisonville, not far from the tragic disaster in the spring that killed 2 miners – which inspired Paul to say "Accidents Happen". According to the AP, there are 18,000 miners in Kentucky- plus their families and friends. AmericansForAmericaPAC is raising on ActBlue for it here.

This plays in Kentucky. Yesterday, the Lexington Herald-Leader just endorsed Jack Conway for Senate. Note the third paragraph:

Since riding the Tea Party wave to victory in the Republican primary as a relatively unvetted candidate, Paul has spent the summer and early fall revealing himself to be quite the ideologue who's long on simplistic slogans but short on understanding the drastic consequences of adhering to those slogans.

What came across as refreshingly candid in the spring proved to be distressingly extremist when Paul was pressed on issues ranging from civil rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

As a senator, his mission would be a chain-saw massacre of federal government that lays waste to farm subsidies, education spending, mine-safety regulations, federal aid in fighting the scourge of drugs and numerous other programs of significant benefit to Kentuckians.

Not only is mine safety a critical issue, but Paul's chain-saw approach to all regulations is winning support for Conway. Radio ads being among of the cheapest forms of political communication, $10 or $20 goes a long way. Blue America's partners at AmericansforAmericaPAC are taking every dollar and putting it into production and the buy- believe it or not, the admaker, a longtime colleague of mine, is actually working on the buy down the hall from me as I'm typing this. You can chip in here to keep reaching Kentucky miners.

How can we fail them? How can a nation that relies on its miners not do everything in its power to protect them? How can we let anyone in this country put their lives at risk by simply showing up to work; by simply pursuing the American Dream?

- President Barack Obama, 4/25/2010

With those words, President Obama delivered a promise to the surviving families of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion: Your loved ones won't have died for nothing.

And with those words, the Massey Energy board of directors closed their ranks around teabagger Don Blankenship, beginning their own PR campaign to keep the government small, out of their mines, and out of their profit margins.

In a news conference in Charleston, company officials also pointed a finger back at the federal regulators who had repeatedly cited them for safety violations before an explosion killed 29 miners at Upper Big Branch on April 5.

They said that the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration had indirectly caused a reduction of fresh air getting to an area deep inside the mine by requiring the company to use a "complicated" ventilation plan that Massey engineers resisted.

Ventilation will be a critical issue in the investigation into the explosion. Experts believe that the blast may have been triggered by a buildup of gases such as methane, or flammable coal dust, inside the mine.

Mine ventilation systems are designed to take toxic or explosive materials out and bring fresh air in for miners to breathe.

The Massey officials, including chief executive Don Blankenship, said they still did not know what triggered the explosion. They released new data showing that, in the minutes before the blast, foremen deep inside the mine had reported finding very low or nonexistent levels of methane.

I'm still struggling to understand the logic they twisted to blame regulations on mine ventilation into a cause for methane buildup. More from their press conference:

On the dispute with federal regulators over regulation, the company said that MSHA inspectors had demanded changes "that made the ventilation in this area significantly more complex." As a result, "the volume of fresh air [getting to the area where coal was being mined] . . . was significantly reduced."

The company said that its engineers resisted making the changes, and even shut down production at the mine for two days, before eventually agreeing.

But when a reporter pressed Suboleski for details about the dispute, he demurred.

"I'm going to get us mired down in things," he said, adding that it would be easier to explain with a map of the mine, and more time. "It did make ventilation more complex . . . in some ways more difficult." (read more...)

And so it begins. There will be spin, counterspin, assaults on the union and assaults on our common sense. Is it any wonder that West Virginians don't place much hope in the idea that safety reforms will actually happen?

The Rural Blog: A congressional investigation has found that the coal-mine disaster that killed nine people in Utah last summer could have been prevented if the general manager or other officials had been honest with the US Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Daily Howler: The divine right of pundits

Matthew Yglesias: We can't leave until we've achieved "victory," defined as killing everyone who wants us to leave.

Radamisto: Col. Morris Davis is an American hero.

Cliff Schecter: Looks like we got us another "Pastor Problem." Will the corporate media will notice?....naah

The Impolitic: Bullsh*t

Via The Salt Lake Tribune:

Operators at the Crandall Canyon mine experienced serious structural problems in the mine in March and entirely abandoned work in an area about 900 feet from where six miners remained trapped Saturday.

A memo obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune shows that mine owners were trying to work around "poor roof conditions" before halting mining of the northern tunnels in early March after a "large bump occurred . . . resulting in heavy damage" in those tunnels.

A bump or bounce occurs when the intense pressure on the coal pillars supporting the mine causes the pillars to burst, "sending coal and rock flying with explosive force," according to that National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The memo indicates that mine operators knew the tremendous pressures of a mountain bearing down on the mine were creating problems with the roof, and they were searching for a way to safely keep the mine from falling in as they cut away the coal pillars supporting the structure.

"It's dangerous. Damn dangerous I would say," Robert Ferriter, now director of the mine safety program at the Colorado School of Mines and a 27-year veteran of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. "What is MSHA doing in all this? They're the ones who are supposed to catch this sort of thing." Read more...

Confined Space: Victory! Senate sticks it to Bush Mine Safety nominee

Liberal Oasis: Our estimable colleague, Avedon Carol, posted this cogent piece on conservatism. And recently, this group of conservatives agreed that our country is going to hell in a handbasket.

Media Needle: Another edition of Media Needle Theater...

Taylor Marsh: George Soros on Bush's 'Terror on War'

The Gaelic Starover: The New Abolitionists

Looking for Someone to Lie to Me: Boxes of Saddam Hussein regime correspondence now on the web...where's the al Qaeda link proof?

Mike's Blog Round Up

Confined Space: Five more miners dead. Richard Stickler's name should be withdrawn as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health. And it turns out that John Correll, Bush's nominee to head up the Office of Surface Mining at the Dept. Interior, was up to his neck in improper behavior while he was at the MSHA.

Pro and Conrad: The legendary editorial cartoonist, Paul Conrad. Info on a documentary film tribute, cartoon gallery, and more at a beautifully designed site.

Majikthise: Has some recommended reading for ya

Brilliant at Breakfast: Bush to teens saving for college: Go Cheney Yourselves

The Talent Show: The Decline of Western Civilizatio

Update:

Having problems uploading new stories...working on it...