Friends, I know, there’s a lot of irony here…. A bird protected under Section 1-c, Rule A4.015 of the Endangered Species Act, and a coal operation shut down by EPA Rule 24-d.547, are being used to sound a warning against national hari-kari. But it’s true that before the advent of Red Diaper Dawn, miners would send birds underground to determine whether the air was safe to breathe. If the canary came back, it was time to head down, but if the canary died – a common occurrence – an official from the EPA would slap a lawsuit on the owners and fine them into bankruptcy on behalf of the Sierra Club.
