JABbering Stooge

MSRNC: Little oversight in risky crane industy.

Few rules, little oversight in crane industry
Some states have no regulations and opt for outdated federal guidelines — Associated Press

NEW YORK — Dan Mooney has no idea what it will take for his construction cranes to pass inspection.

The crane company owner recently asked New York City officials for a list of safety hazards that inspectors look for. He was told that information wasn’t public.

“How am I supposed to know what I need if you won’t tell me?” Mooney asked. “It’s like not posting the speed limit.”

*snip*

The crane standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were last updated in 1971. They require cranes to be inspected once a year. But most of the inspections never happen. OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, inspected only about 23,000 of the country’s some 4 million construction sites last year.

Patchwork safety regs; OSHA standards that haven’t been updated in nearly four deacdes; required safety inspections not performed; hands up, who didn’t see this coming? Yeah, I figured as much.

While I didn’t have the close relationship with him that Booman or Stephanie Miller did, I decided to blogroll Larry Johnson — in spite of his Republican leanings — because of his counter-terrorism expertise, particularly where PlameGate was concerned. I didn’t begrudge him his support of Senator Clinton in the primaries, either, as that was his right as a U. S. citizen. (Which would probably explain why he hasn’t been interviewed by Miller — an Obama supporter — since the junior Senator from Illinois tossed his hat into the ring.)

Sadly, I find that I must withdraw my support for Johnson for some extremely outrageous incidents that he’s gotten himself into in his stumping for Mrs. Clinton. Namely, he’s been channeling Geraldine Ferraro by making racially insensitive remarks vis a vis Obama’s candidacy, while spreading false innuendo suggesting Michelle Obama is racist. Now top that off with a slathering of homophobia aimed at Andrew Sullivan (who is rather rebarbative in his own right — not for being gay, but for something rather akin to High Broderism with a hint of glibertarian rancidness), and you’ve got the shit sandwich that Johnson has been serving us lately.

“Flowbee”, when your missives are so off-base that even Cousin It Charles Johnson thinks you’re too crazy, you know you’ve got a problem.

I’d suggest that you fix it. Fast.