"Could a media
system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn
lies into truth?" - George Orwell, 1984
Surely you remember Don Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy. Under his leadership at Massey, while skirting government regulations, 29 coal miners died at his Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia in March 2010. Over a three-month period prior to the deaths, Blankenship sold $21.24 million in Massey stock then retired in December 2010. Shortly afterwards Massey was sold to Alpha Natural Resources. Now Blankenship is getting back into the coal mining business.
Last month Bloomberg reported that Blankenship has filed the necessary paperwork to form a new Kentucky coal mine company; McCoy Coal Group Inc. of Belfry, Kentucky (Notice he’s not using his name). On the filings he is listed as the president of McCoy. So I guess Blankenship isn’t finished with killing working Americans
If you don’t remember Blankenship from Massey Energy, you may remember him as a hero of the tea party after he donated $1 million to the group. Then he showed up to give a speech in his “red, white and blue uniform” at a Friends of America Labor Day rally — which he sponsored.
Blankenship showed little remorse for those who died at the Upper Big Branch mine nor their families. He insisted the reaction to their deaths was a “knee-jerk political reaction”, and that the Mine Safety and Health Administration was the cause of the “accident”. He scolded President Obama for the regulations he was ignoring. How arrogant and callus can one get?
". . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln, 1864
Wells Fargo and a Foreclosure Suicide - ...things were fine until the bank claimed in 2009 that the couple missed a mortgage payment. The Rousseaus presented proof they had made the payment with a cashier’s check, but Wells Fargo insisted the money was still owed. This mistake set off a series of fees and problems that resulted in foreclosure proceedings. The couple fought the bank’s attempt to evict them from their house, even filing a lawsuit, but on Mother’s Day, a few days before being kicked out, Norman Rousseau reportedly gave up and shot himself.
Inhofe Staffer Asks Oil Lobbyist ‘Partners’ For ‘Better Coordination And Communication’ - “Moving forward, we --- your partners --- would kindly ask for better coordination and communication from you to prevent the Obama administration from pulling similar stunts in the future,” wrote Inhofe aide David Banks in the 800-word e-mail to two dozen lobbyists.
Matt Taibbi Can’t Believe Wall Street Donors Have Dried Up For Obama - The only reason banks backed Obama in 2008 is that they knew after the disastrous 8 years of Bush II there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell a Republican was going to win. But they're betting on Romney in 2012.
Issa’s monstrous witch hunt - Since taking over as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last year, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has been investigating President Obama’s administration with the tenacity of Captain Ahab in “Moby Dick.”
White House & Dems Back Banks over Protests: Newly Discovered Homeland Security Files Show Feds Central to Occupy Crackdown - A new trove of heavily redacted documents provided by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) on behalf of filmmaker Michael Moore and the National Lawyers Guild makes it increasingly evident that there was and is a nationally coordinated campaign to disrupt and crush the Occupy Movement.
Surely you remember Don Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy. Under his leadership at Massey, while skirting government regulations, 29 coal miners died at his Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia in March 2010. Over a three-month period prior to the deaths, Blankenship sold $21.24 million in Massey stock then retired in December 2010. Shortly afterwards Massey was sold to Alpha Natural Resources. Now Blankenship is getting back into the coal mining business.
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