Talks to Squirrels

Here is an interesting tidbit about Bob "It's Not My Fault" Murray, owner of both the Utah mine where 6 miners are currently trapped and the Sago mine where 12 miners died in 2006.

Ask most of the miners working at the Maple Creek or Powhatan No. 6 mines to tell you owner/operator Robert Murray's squirrel story and you're in for a treat.

The way Murray tells it, he had just been let go in 1987 as CEO of North American Coal Company and was feeling extremely down about the whole situation. At home one day, Murray was sitting on his back porch, contemplating his future, when he was approached by a squirrel. Murray says the squirrel hopped up next to him, looked him square in the eye and said "Bob Murray, you should be operating your very own mines." Unfortunately for UMWA miners, this seemingly intelligent rodent wasn't too keen on fairness, so it neglected to add the words "and make sure you treat your workers the way you would want to be treated."

Well, you'd think someone who talks to squirrels would be some kind of a humanitarian. Maybe care about his employees. Here's what one of them has said:

"Bob Murray is so anti-union that he wants to bust us even after we kept him in business. He has exploited his workers. We must stop his efforts to cut our members out of work."

And finally, this quote which describes the Bob Murray the public has been seeing this week:

"Sometimes it's like watching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Read the article here. Then remember which presidential candidate is staunchly pro-union. (Hint: It's not Hillary, Obama, or Edwards. Can't guess? Check my sidebar.)

Labor unions -- the folks who brought you the weekend.

One question: Why is this company allowed to mine in a national forest? BushCo:Degradation -R-Us.