Friday round-up

its that time of the week again...

• Bob Murray belongs in jail, not on TV.

  A catastrophic failure deep inside central Utah's Crandall Canyon Mine killed three rescue workers and cast grave doubt on whether a rescue mission to find six trapped miners should resume.
  Those killed and the six others injured Thursday night were part of a perilous operation to find the missing miners, who were caught in a similar failure 12 days ago.
  [...]
  Among those injured were Crandall Canyon employees and two MSHA managers who were involved in the rescue effort in the mine, which has been unstable for months.



• In other news of desperation,
  

  Parents for Choice in Education, which promotes vouchers in Utah, is sponsoring a telephone survey that links voucher opponents with advocates of same-sex unions.
  [...]
  But Parents for Choice defends the survey, one of several public opinion polls the group has done. The connection between teachers' groups and same-sex unions is already there, said Elisa Clements, the group's executive director. As with any survey, the group is trying to gauge public opinion.
  "Many Utahns would be shocked to know the policies and positions promoted by the National Education Association, the parent organization of the UEA," she said, referencing the Utah Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, which opposes vouchers.

  That is not a "opinion poll," Julia Lyon, it is a push poll. They are smearing the other side assuming that Utah's homophobia will overwhelm its desire for good public schools.


• Utah's legislators are nuts and corrupt, part #234
  

  tour buses pulled over at the gate to the Chevron refinery and four of their colleagues dramatically filed off to unholster concealed guns.
  [...]
  The four dug out their handguns (one from an ankle holster) and turned them over to National Rifle Association lobbyist Clark Aposhian, who stored them in his car until they finished the tour of the refinery.
  [...]
  [Rep. Curt] Oda, [R-Clearfield,] who regularly sponsors guns-rights legislation, acknowledged that the pre-arranged stop to stow their handguns was meant to make a point: "If we have to find ways to carry our guns, we'll find them," he said.

  
  Question #1, why do you need your concealed weapon with you when you are touring an oil refinery and Hill Air Force Base? Question #2, why is an NRA lobbyist going with you on said tour? Question #3, what is the point you were trying to make with your stunt?


• In the era of Barry Bonds, it is nice to know some sports records are being broken the hard way:

  The presidential vacation-time record holder is the late Ronald Reagan, who tallied 436 days in his two terms. At 418 days, and with 17 months to go in his presidency, Bush is going to beat that easily.

  (H/T ThinkProgress)