Senator Big Coal from Kentucky defends air pollution

[Chris]

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a startling claim: Air pollution has no connection to asthma, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul said on the Senate floor.

But Paul, and a chart he used to make his case against the health benefits of a new federal air pollution rule, relied on some creative sourcing and pseudoscience.

Paul's chart was a graph showing air pollution declining in California as the number of people diagnosed with asthma rose. The chart attributed the data to a May 2003 paper by what was then called the California Department of Health Services. But the department never plotted the relationship between those two factors.

In fact, the department said asthma attacks "can be triggered by exposures and conditions such as respiratory infections, house dust mites, animal dander, mold, pollen, exercise, tobacco smoke, and indoor and outdoor air pollutants."

Paul's real source was a 2006 paper "Facts Not Fear on Air Pollution" from the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank.

The Associated Press: FACT CHECK: GOP senator gasps for facts on asthma

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Maybe we need to give every kid with asthma a breathalyzer?

 

[Oddball]

I'll give you asthma.

 

[del]

you'll get nothing and like it.

 

[Chris]

Paul received $111,000 in campaign contributions from the coal companies.

 

[del]

i'm stunned.

next you'll tell me obama took money from wall st.

i declare i may faint dead away.

 

[Oddball]

DOUBLE FARTS!!

 

[Chris]

Sen. Rand Paul questioned the need Thursday for new federal new coal-mining rules to reduce black-lung disease, despite federal figures showing the illness has been on the rise in recent years, killing about 1,500 miners annually.

The Kentucky Republican, a frequent critic of government regulations, said during a Senate hearing that black-lung rates had dropped dramatically since 1969, when a law to combat the illness took effect.

“Every regulation doesn’t save lives,” Paul said at a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “There is a point or a balancing act between when a regulation becomes burdensome and our energy production is stifled. We have to assess the cost.”

Paul said during the hearing that the government had done “a pretty good job” in recent decades of reducing the incidence of black lung — an often incurable and fatal disease caused by breathing years of coal dust.

But figures from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health show a spike in black lung rates in recent years.

Black lung kills approximately 1000 miners per year, and the number of cases have doubled since 1995, when the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act was repealed. According to the paper, Paul received $136,277 in campaign contributions from mining interests during his senate run.

Rand Paul: Preventing Black Lung Too “Burdensome” To Energy Companies | Care2 Causes

 

[Oddball]

This just in: Subterranean coal mining is fucking dangerous and rife with health risks!

 

[del]

well, which is it?

$111k as you claimed before or $136,277?

i need to know so that i can display the appropriate amount of outrage at his heinous behavior.

we're waiting...

 

[Chris]

well, which is it?

$111k as you claimed before or $136,277?

i need to know so that i can display the appropriate amount of outrage at his heinous behavior.

we're waiting...

Rand Paul (R-KY) U.S. Senate | MAPLight.org - Money and Politics

 

[Chris]

So Paul is both pro air pollution and pro Black Lung.

At least he is consistent.

 

[Dot Com]

I thought this thread was about the other useless Senator from Kentucky

 

[del]

your link says $151K. and he takes money from the koch bros.

oh, the humanity


i'll never be able to calibrate my outrage now.

 

[Oddball]

So Paul is both pro air pollution and pro Black Lung.

At least he is consistent.

And you're still pro dumb-as-a-stump.

All is still right with the world.

 

[del]

So Paul is both pro air pollution and pro Black Lung.

At least he is consistent.

as are you.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The only question is: How long would it take Progressives to turn us into North Korea?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

So Paul is both pro air pollution and pro Black Lung.

At least he is consistent.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC9OeOG9pnQ]Zoolander - Alternate Scene - Working the Mines - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Wiseacre]

You think the dem senators and house reps from coal states like KY and WVA are any different from Paul when it comes to defending coal?

 

[Oddball]

The only question is: How long would it take Progressives to turn us into North Korea?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ4sR4S74xQ]Why Is Everyone So Fucking Stupid? - YouTube[/ame]