Trapped Miners

I wasn't following the trapped miners story at all. This sort of human tragedy story generally leaves me pretty cold. Bad things happen; people suffer; it's terribly unfortunate, and it's the world in which we live. The brutal reality is that in the big picture, a mere 12 deaths really don't matter at all.

But this story does matter, and here's why:

In the past two years, the mine was cited 273 times for safety violations, of which about a third were classified as "significant and substantial," according to documents compiled by the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Many were for problems that could contribute to accidental explosions or the collapse of mine tunnels, records show.

In addition, 16 violations logged in the past eight months were listed as "unwarrantable failures," a designation reserved for serious safety infractions for which the operator had either already been warned, or which showed "indifference or extreme lack of care," said Tony Oppegard, a former MSHA senior adviser.

This bad thing didn't just happen; it happened because the people in charge of the mine were flagrantly and consistently indifferent to the safety of their workers. Remember that the next time some wingnut starts bloviating about over-regulation or about how terrible the unions are.

Update: Sisyphus Shrugged and Kevin Drum have more on this.

[That's all, folks]