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Olbermann: Another dangerous Bush crony at Utah mine rescue

http://rawstory.com Posted by admin 387 days ago

The officials charged with protecting the safety of six Utah miners who have been trapped underground for more than 10 days "may have wound up only protecting the people who made money off their sweat," MSNBC host Keith Olbermann said Thursday night.

Olbermann's excoriation of mine-safety oversight came before news emerged that three rescue workers were killed and another six injured in a second cave-in. It remains unknown whether the initial six miners are alive or dead.

In Thursday night's broadcast of Countdown, Olbermann was sharply critical of Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Olbermann reminds viewers that Stickler, former mining company executive, has faced criticism in the past of overseeing mines with higher-than-average accident rates and ignoring problems that led to other disasters.

"When Mr. Bush nominated him for his current post," Olbermann says of Stickler, "he was opposed by the miner's union, the AFL-CIO, a Sago widow, eight out of nine Quecreek miners, Congressional Democrats and enough Republicans that Mr. Bush had to circumvent the Senate entirely to put Mr. Stickler into his current position last year as a recess appointment."

Early Friday morning, MSNBC reported on the latest setbacks in the rescue effort. Another seismic event late Thursday caused the walls to cave in around rescue workers who were working their way toward the trapped miners. No one knows the cause of the "bump" that caused the cave in, killing three workers and injuring six.

"We also know in the past couple of days, 12 of the rescue workers who were working right up against that collapse said they no longer wanted to work there because they were afraid for their own safety," correspondent Michelle Kosinski reported Friday.

The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown and MSNBC's First Look, broadcast on August 16 and 17.