President Obama's eulogy for the lost coal miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine yesterday afternoon was extremely moving and worth taking a look at if you missed it.
When most Americans think "killed on the job" the occupations most of us think about are firefighter or cop or construction worker.
Not in West Virginia.
They deserve better. We passed the MINER Act in 2006 and to his credit Bush did sign it into law. But when Democrats wanted to improve the act in 2008 with tougher safety regulations, it died in the Senate due to Republican filibuster threat. They said the 2006 act was more than enough to prevent mine disasters like Sago, where 12 miners died.
Instead we got an even worse disaster that killed 29. If the Senate Republicans hadn't sided with the energy industry, perhaps those 29 miners would still be alive today.
The Party of No stuff has real world consequences, folks. And sometimes those consequences are deadly.
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