The Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Murray Energy, Robert E. Murphy became notorious during the presidential campaign by allegedly forcing workers to go to a Romney rally. Now, Murray has responded to President Obama’s re-election with a prayer and dozens of layoffs.
The Ohio CEO declared that the reelection would continue a “war on coal” and announced a time for prayer and firings — proclaiming “Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build.” It appears that he “did not build that” alone, to use an Obama phrase.
Murray then broke away from a request for the grace of God to laid off 54 people at American Coal, one of his subsidiary companies, and 102 at Utah American Energy.
You may recall Murray from the August 2007 mine collapse where six miners were trapped at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah.
Later, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) hit the mine with its highest penalty for coal mine safety violations, $1.85 million. Murray would ultimately lobby heavily against new procedures needed to avoid such deaths in the future.
The employees this week were able to walk out of Murray’s company — a certain improvement. However, before being kicked out, the employees were given Murray’s prayer as solace on their way out the door:
Dear Lord:
The American people have made their choice. They have decided that America must change its course, away from the principals of our Founders. And, away from the idea of individual freedom and individual responsibility. Away from capitalism, economic responsibility, and personal acceptance.
We are a Country in favor of redistribution, national weakness and reduced standard of living and lower and lower levels of personal freedom.
My regret, Lord, is that our young people, including those in my own family, never will know what America was like or might have been. They will pay the price in their reduced standard of living and, most especially, reduced freedom.
The takers outvoted the producers. In response to this, I have turned to my Bible and in II Peter, Chapter 1, verses 4-9 it says, “To faith we are to add goodness; to goodness, knowledge; to knowledge, self control; to self control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, kindness; to brotherly kindness, love.”
Lord, please forgive me and anyone with me in Murray Energy Corp. for the decisions that we are now forced to make to preserve the very existence of any of the enterprises that you have helped us build. We ask for your guidance in this drastic time with the drastic decisions that will be made to have any hope of our survival as an American business enterprise.
Amen.
Of course, he could not fire the “young people” in his “own family.” This is a familiar lament among some Romney supporters, including one at a Romney fundraiser at the Hamptons who stated:
“I don’t think the common person is getting it. Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.
“We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”
He is also not alone in threatening or actually firing people if Obama won. Indeed, a Utah CEO fired over 100 people and blamed it on Obama’s reelection. However, Murray does this all with a bit more religious fervor.
Source: Washington Post
Petraeus was being secretly investigated by the FBI for a compromised PC, and they found his affair.
Nick, I do think that knowingly violating the CIA code of ethics while at the same time having knowledge that your girlfriend is being investigated by the FBI for possible hacking of your emails is a major distraction. Have you ever heard the words “security breach”? Yes Petraeus will eventually be called but hopefully Feinstein will conduct her hearings better than that clown Issa. His quickly turned into the usual fiasco,
Nick S,
it is your privilege to kick ass but why SwM? And why don’t you get off your “let’s wait and see—holier than thou horse” and join she and us in chasing scandals.
First you defended mom who got cavity searched and was not “mother of the mont” as you called her. That was find, she needed it.
Even if Insane GeneH gave you skit for it today. How his mind does not work we can leave aside for now.
But leave your principles and joined the fun following the media’s chase for excitement. People were falling asleep after the election. Ratings were falling. Dicks were not rising in the couch sofas.
Don’t kick the ladies. Or did she kick first?
NOW, you can tell me off. –
Anonymously Posted and Nick Spinelli,
I’ve been saying this about Rafflaw for over a year now. He only say what GeneH says or what Messpo says, or OS says, etc ad infinitum. But nasty Idealist707 get skit for it.
The first hhing he said to me was “tinfoil hat” and show me proof. Hasn’t changed in over a year. He is usually brief which is nice in itself.
Borowitz is on the money although he won’t point and call it for what it is as he is a responsible journalist.
She is a Russian spy or somebody’s.
B says:
“As a journalist, she was embedded with his team in Afghanistan. They seem to have gone running together a great deal.
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2012/11/questions-about-the-petraeus-resignation.html#ixzz2BmFAVO9A
Now you don’t get that kind of placement unless somebody arranges it. And it was either him or her backers. Whichever, our military counterintelligence people did not do their work. If Petraeus wanted to have his nucky close at hand, calling her embedded is a cute way to do it and a good pun.
Somma u folks don’t watch enough Covert Affairs episodes do ya?
The law of that jungle is “thou shalt not screw enemy spies doods and doodettes.“
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-25-2012/paula-broadwell
AP, Bingo again. He’s stale as year old bread w/ his tired cliches. His usual comment is, “I agree w/ Gene.” After that he’s hopelessly lost.
Ambinder says:
“His brief tenure at the CIA had been shadowed in recent weeks by the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which led to the death of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The CIA had a far bigger “annex” next to the consulate that reportedly housed agents charged with securing stray rockets and missiles used by the regime of deposed strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Questions have been raised as to whether the CIA and Petraeus bungled security at the consulate.
Petraeus was scheduled to testify before Congress next week. With his resignation, he will no longer do so. The timing of Petraeus’ resignation, especially coming on the heels of Obama’s re-election, has already led many conservative commentators to suggest that it is all somehow connected to Benghazi.”
What the phuck did I write many days ago, saying that the consulate was a death trap in terms of security. Again I will repeat the fact that the firing and
fireworks went on for 3 hours in total, as reported to Washington. Now we learn that the CIA had an annnex next door. WTF were they doing? All of them could not have been stoned or doing the attack. So that will really be an interesting investigation.
Why can not Congress call him now on the Benghazi question? (See Ambinder above quote) Seem weird to me. It is not a trial but an investigation.
Do you really think Gen. Petraeus was forced out? Who in their right mind would write in a resignation letter that he was resigning because he had an extra marital affair if he didn’t have one?? Tin foil time. -rafflaw
1) I didn’t say that he was forced out.
2) I didn’t say that he didn’t have an extramarital affair.
3) As for “tin foil time?” I’m grilling and happen to be using it on the barbie, as I type. (…a tired, old cliche, the “tin foil” thing.)
The next time I throw a shovel of coal into the furnace I will think of this guy. Wait, we got rid of that furnace in 1956. It was something to do with air pollution in Saint Louis. Peabody Coal is a good buy on the stock market right now by the way. I like Arch Coal as well. I thnk steel mills steel need this stuff.
Blouise and others,
Your comment suggests this answer. There used to be so much foreign nucky trying to establish liasons with men (and some homosexual agents too) that all officers
in the CIA are required to report any new acquaintance that “they leave their toothbrush with” to the company.
Contact by a foreign person required immediate report and justification, and it was usually declared a forbidden contact.
Now this could be another “honey bucket” in exchange for favors by a foreign service, arranged to get him out—he was too good.
Obviously, CIA failed in their protection service done normally for the top brass.
SWM, Patreus is not going to testify this week as scheduled. If you think he won’t testify @ all I have some land in Florida to sell you. And, to say the surge in Iraq didn’t work is flat ass wrong. Even Obama who voted against it admitted it was a success. It was inspired and superbly orchestrated. And SWM, looks like you’re complicit in the “fall guy” plan. How in the hell do you know he was asleep @ the switch. He may have been, but do you have classified sources. Sell that horseshit to someone else. We don’t know shit @ this point but this is America..spin away.
I’m thinking that maybe some lawyer will take those fired employees into a plaintiffs’ group for a class action for wrongful discharge based on 42 USC 1983, depriving them of their property interests under color of the state law that allows him to engage in “employment at will” without showing that he HAD to fire them or that they did anything wrong. Who knows? Anybody getting any remedy for anything is becoming more and more difficult.
Rafflaw,
It is better than a treason trial. Ii is also a personal matter that is accepted and will not readily be investigated. So they gave him a way out. He
could not refuse it.
AP,
I roll down to answer your question directly after reading it:
“Hmmm… One has to wonder. More to this than meets the eye?”
Yes.
1) The CIA mandarins sabotaged him as being uncomfortable to their way of life. He is military
not accustomed to inefficiency, moral degeneration, risk avoidance as primary mission of all supervisors, and making large demonstrations and noises and calling them successful missions. All have 60 yaars as established practice at the CIA.
2) He was found to be behind the Benghazi “Al Quaeda” raid on the consulate, to Romney’s immediate advantage for his press release 2 minutes after Hillary. Somebody fingered Petraeus.
3) It was an FBI sting operation for reason number 2, can’t have a traitor against the Prez left there to plan the next assassinations. Honey buckets still work very well, especially on those who are accustomed to lots of free nucky.
4) Somebody found and has leaked proof that he was running the export of the dope from Afghanistan, and they had to find a less greasy reason to ease him out the door. It was not cynanide and he took it.
He’ll be hired by a corp in 2 weeks, quietly.
Now, I am not a legal advisor, but being that he threatened an action that he would let go any employee that voted for Obama, and has now actually carried through on that threat, without any time to pass to show that the election of Obama has hurt of hindered his business, isn’t that election tampering?? Can’t he be charged?
Bruce, His affair lady is in trouble with the FBI so he resigned. That’s the scandal.
Bruce, He is not going to testify.
Srefanie,
So if all employers decide to run sweatshops with slave wages and conditions, we employess can either accept that or do what??????? We used to call them unions, and then Reagan sabotaged them. Remember?
Any answer?