Massey Denies It Prevented Miners From Attending Funerals

By GottaLaff

Earlier, I posted about Massey Energy refusing to allow time off for miners who wanted to attend their loved ones’ funerals.

They're denying it.

Massey spokesman Troy Andes:

“We know of no instances when miners were denied a request to attend a funeral.”

They know of no instances. Maybe someone simply forgot to tell them. Or they did this:

The Washington Independent also reminds us that even if this wasn't a Massey policy, it might have been enforced by subsidiaries who actually run the mines and have their own rules.

Massey Coal: No Time off for Miners to Attend Friends’ Funerals

By GottaLaff

A sign outside a West Virginia vigil for coal miners who lost their lives in the Upper Big Branch explosion on April 5 (EPA/ZUMApress.com)

If Massey's CEO, Don Blankenship, had been confronted by strong unions, things might have been different. Lives might have been saved, and this despicable turn of events might have been avoided.

Via the Washington Independent:

Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends’ funerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at least one case, required a worker to go on shift even though the fate of a relative — one of the victims of the April 5 disaster — remained unknown at the time, according to some family members and other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be taking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it doesn’t appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years.

Remember the scene in Miracle on 34th Street, when Kris Kringle is talking to Alfred, the Macy janitor and Alfred laments...



That's all that matters to Massey: profit. Profit over lives. The very people who make him money are expendable. But dollars aren't.

“They told my husband, ‘You’ve got a job to do and you’re gonna do it,’” said the wife of one Massey miner, referring to the funerals he’s missed this month for friends who died in the blast. “What else are we gonna do?”

What else, indeed.

The culture of fear is everywhere. It's in politics, it's at gun rallies, at Tea Bagger protests, white supremacist gatherings, and now it's directed at those who lost loved ones:

“I guarantee it: Massey’s already told these guys, ‘Hey, don’t say nothin’. You’re not talking to no reporters. You’re not saying nothin’ about our safety record — or you won’t have a job,’” said Chuck Nelson, a former Massey miner who’s since become an environmental activist with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “That’s the way they operate.”

That's the way they operate. There isn't a heart anywhere in Blankenship's body. He and Cheney should start a club.

Massey wouldn't even let a mourner hang a wreath at the entrance to the mine. Nice people skills, Don. Bully much?

“When we were all union, if there was something that came up, it wasn’t no problem at all to shut that mine down until everything was fixed.” said Nelson, who worked for nearly 20 years in union mines before Massey took over. “Non-union [workers], they ain’t got that right.”

Massey ain't got nothin' right.

H/t: hapkidogal

Sestak Says White House Offered Him Job to End Challenge, White House Denies

By GottaLaff

He said, they said:

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) claims the White House "offered him a federal job in an effort to dissuade him from challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) in the state's Democratic primary."

Said Sestak: "I'm not going to say who or how and what was offered. I don't feel it's appropriate to go beyond what I said."

The White House denied the story.

Max Baucus: Relationship Was Not An 'Affair'

By GottaLaff

Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) wasn't really having an affair with his former State Director Melodee Hanes, see. And we believe him, because what possible reason would he have to mislead anyone?

“Mel and I have a wonderful relationship. We are living together and enjoying spending time with each other and our families. I'm as happy as I've ever been. Mel and I were both separated from our former spouses when we got together. It wasn't an ‘affair.’ As we grew closer and things progressed, we knew it was time to begin the process of Mel transitioning out of my Senate office” [...]

Baucus also didn't really nominate "Mel" for U.S. attorney in Montana.

“As a highly qualified prosecutor who tried more than 100 jury trials and as a former law professor, Mel would have been an excellent U.S. Attorney for Montana. [...] I for one did not want her relationship with me to disqualify her from applying for the position. I appointed an independent, third-party reviewer and established an open and fair process that resulted in 3 names being sent, unranked, to the White House for consideration,” Baucus said in the statement.

So they thought the better of it, you see, and Mel withdrew her name.

And then they lived together.

And then Mel applied for the DoJ job all by her lonesome. And lo and behold, she got it.

So the not-affair not-affected and not-led to the not-job that she got on her own.

Not-clear?

Dick Cheney: "I have no aspirations for further office"

By GottaLaff

Dickless McHeartStent says thanks but no thanks to a run in 2012. He must have super duper double ultra secret inside information that he'd never survive the stress of a campaign that would rip him to shreds.

Why, he could drop dead smack dab in the middle of a rally and he knows it. Smart man, that little Dick.

So as it stands now, "Draft Dick Cheney 2012" will be rendered as impotent that their choice of candidates:

"Why would I want to do that?" [Cheney] replied. "It's been a hell of a tour. I've loved it. I have no aspirations for further office," Cheney said in an interview with Politico. [...]

As for a potential White House bid by Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and last year's GOP vice presidential nominee, Cheney said he likes her personally, calling her "charming [and] engaging."

"She's got as much right to be out there as anybody else. Will she be a candidate at some point? How would she do as a candidate? Those are all questions that only time will tell," Cheney said.

Yeah, yeah, Palin, yeah, yeah, whatever.

Meantime, let me take this opportunity to fill you in on why Thom Hartmann and Chris Matthews refer to Dickless as "Chee-nee".

They've explained that Cheney himself pronounces his name that way, and derives some sort of perverse pleasure from hearing others pronounce it "Chay-nee". So, Hartmann and Matthews prefer to deprive him of those small, but apparently precious, moments of delight and glee-itude via the Chee-nee articulation.

Simple as that.

Treasury Department Denies it Tried to Exclude Fox News From Interviews

By GottaLaff

All day we've been going back and forth with anonymous quotes and denials about health care reform and whether the public option is a goner, or as strong as ever.

Now we're seeing a denial about someone Paddy posted about earlier, the subject of a huge media kerfuffle:

Now, Mediaite has learned exclusively that the Treasury Department, who set up the interviews, denies the story.

A Treasury Department spokesperson tells Mediaite the following:

There was no plot to exclude Fox News, and they had the same interview that their competitors did. Much ado about absolutely nothing. [...]

Neither Fox News nor the Treasury Department has provided copies of the bulletins that were sent to the press pool, which Politico reports were missing Fox’s name. [...]

TV Newser points out, via an anonymous source, that a decision by the other nets to skip the interviews may have been more financial than principled:

The pool is paid for by and rotates between ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, and NBC, allowing each network to do quick interviews using the same camera crew. If the White House were to exclude one of the members, the other networks would have to provide their own crew for the interview.

Meanwhile, my pal Larisa has an interesting take on all of this, as always.

I report, you decide. And so far, I haven't excluded anyone.

We here at TPC have a big tent policy. If only the pole would stay up.

Quickie: The Party of No just says "No" to being the Party of No

By GottaLaff

I've been M.I.A. because I had to work until 9 p.m. yesterday, and now Mr. Cable Guy is here. So. After having had my InterWebs cut out on me all morning (independent of our ongoing issues with Time Warner, which has credited my account yet again), he is switching us on and off as we speak. If you don't hear from me... again... that is why.

Meantime, here is a quickie. Roll Call is subscription only, so this is all I could grab. I found it laughable, and had to share:

GOP Denies 'Party of No' Label

The party that has twice unified to oppose Democratic-authored economic stimulus legislation is neither the party of no, nor a party defined by its unanimous opposition to the new president's agenda.

The Party of No is in denial. It says "No!" to charges that it is the No Party. No kidding.

Holder: Oh no I didn't

By GottaLaff

Original post about Eric Holder's non-promise here. Now we have a more definitive denial via TPM, who spoke to Holder's aide:

The aide definitively denied Sen. Kit Bond's (R-MO) claim that Holder had given him "assurances" of avoiding future prosecutions of Bush intelligence officials who engaged in torturous interrogations.

"Eric Holder has not made any commitments about who would or would not be prosecuted," the aide said via e-mail. "He explained his position to Senator Bond as he did in the public hearing and in his responses to written questions."

Follow the link to TPM for the written version that was given to Senator Jon Kyl.

Quote Of The Day

Well, Pickles we can blame on over medication, but what's Condi's excuse?

"I think generations pretty soon are going to start to thank this president for what he's done. This generation will," Condoleeza Rice said.

Local Oklahoma paper fails to report Obama's victory

Can we re-arrange things so OK joins the deep south where it belongs? Happened in Texas too. h/t Pam.

Some newspaper readers in Sapulpa are upset by what wasn't in the paper.

The Sapulpa Daily Herald did not report that Barack Obama won the Presidential election in its Wednesday edition.

One paragraph on the front page did report the majority of Creek County voted for McCain.

"This is not only national, but it's also local. And this is our President; he's President of Sapulpa also," said Scott Gordon.

IWRC* Palin: "You got to read the report, sir."

By GottaLaff

How folksy! IWRC* Palin is using the same clumsy grammar as W. (Once again, Bush III) "You got to"; how quaint. But what's even more Bushtastic is her lapsing right into denial and cherry-picking, resulting in a warped interpretation of events, just like her role model:

Sarah Palin on Saturday denied abusing her power or violating state law in the dismissal of Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, putting her at odds with the findings of a state ethics report that determined she did abuse her power as governor.

As the Republican vice presidential nominee departed her Pittsburgh hotel on Saturday morning, a reporter asked Palin if she abused her power in firing Monegan, which was the conclusion of the state investigator's report released late Friday.

“No, and if you read the read the report you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member," Palin responded before boarding her campaign bus. "You got to read the report, sir."

Here's the thing, IWRC, you are allowed to "replace" someone as governor. But according to the report we "got to read", you are not allowed to do this:

"Gov. Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," the report states.

IWRC, you got to go.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"