Turn Out The Lights

This bit from Paul Begala on today's Meet the Press caught my eye:

‘What bothers me the most was that President Bush hired a lobbyist from the mining industry to be the number two guy in the Interior Department.’ And that he says, in the book, he says, ‘My goal is to turn out the lights on the mine safety agency.’

It's simply unconscionable that this industry isn't safer. We're a long way from the near-criminal era of neglect of the turn of the century, but we could be so much further along. Enforcement with $60 fines is a paper tiger, and it's starting to manifest itself in human lives. We're almost at 2005 levels for worker deaths and it's January 22.