Dead miners: Just the cost of doing business.

Say, you remember a guy named David Lauriski from back here? Found himself a job in Commander Chimpy's administration as head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), where he promptly gutted safety regulations.

Well, it turns out there's more to Lauriski's story:

A year ago last November, President Bush’s appointed head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, David Lauriski, resigned his position citing family reasons. His resignation came shortly after a Labor Department Inspector General report confirmed a CBS “60 Minutes” report that under his direction the agency had improperly awarded no-bid, single-source contracts. Two of those companies had ties to Lauriski and one of his assistants.

But Lauriski is best remembered at MSHA for his attempt to push through a change in regulations governing coal dust levels that he proposed and lobbied on behalf of as a senior executive with Energy West Mining Company of Utah. Since the change uniquely benefited only his former employer, it was opposed by not only the Mine Workers but also mine operators other than Energy West. Lauriski was able to side with the other mine operators on a host of other regulatory changes detrimental to worker safety.

More Bush administration corruption and incompetence. More dead Americans. There's a really disturbing pattern here.

UPDATE: Oh oh ... someone in the comments section has their panties in a bunch:

I bet if you stubbed your big toe tripping over your knuckles and/or jaw, you'd find some way to blame that on Bush, too. Bush Derangement Syndrome is not only a tragic mental illness, it's becoming the next Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, too.

"Let's see... Another tragedy occurred. How can I connect it to Bush?"

Ghoul.

Oh, look. More dead soldiers:

A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

So, "anonymous," who's responsible for those dead troops? Who could it possibly be? Could it be ... Satan!?!?