Details after the jump...

Oh yeah, tonight's nominee: Richard E. Stickler.

I am NOT given to gratuitous swearing.  However, god damn it all anyway.  54+ dead in Baghdad, 140+ injured.  8 dead in Jerusalem.  The dems don't have a nominee.  Utah ended its stupid ass legislative session (more on THAT forthcoming).  

And this afternoon, competing news releases flying from the committee chair, Ted Kennedy, and the ranking member, Mike Enzi.

Because
Kerry Allred
Don Erickson
Luis Hernandez
Juan Carlos Payan
Brandon Phillips
Manuel Sanchez
Gary Jensen
Dale Ray Black
Brandon Kimber

are DEAD.

And it is the fault of Bob Murray, MHSA, Elaine Chao and w*.

Headline news here in Utah this morning:
Crandall Canyon bombshell: Months before deadly cave-ins, owners knew of structural woes

All of our worst suspicions are confirmed true.  

There were many fine diaries about the Crandall Canyon disaster last summer, and some followup on the Senate hearings in September.  After months of little to no news, the good old Trib drops this bombshell.

Newly released meeting minutes show that, in the months before the Crandall Canyon mine disaster, its co-owners were dealing with serious structural problems, higher-than-expected costs and subpar coal, but were hopeful that plans approved by federal regulators would get things back on track.
   Those plans hinged on extracting nearly all of the coal from the south barrier pillar, the 450-foot-thick coal wall that helped support the roof of the mine, where three months later the walls collapsed, entombing six miners.