The need for more regulation and stiffer enforcement was illustrated in April in blood: 29 dead coal miners in West Virginia, seven dead workers at an oil refinery in Washington State, and 11 dead on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig — followed by an ecological calamity. Stiffening regulation and enforcement is more government, not less. But it is government performing an essential basic role – protecting its citizens and preserving the environment in which they live.

Last week, Massey Energy and its CEO Don Blankenship repeated their contention that although 29 of their workers died in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion earlier this month, they emphasize safety and no problems were found in the mine just before the blast. Blankenship suggested that the disaster was caused by nature or man. This bogus excuse — that workers died at their own hand or God’s — is a common dodge managers use to evade responsibility. It’s a lie.

Canada went beyond erecting a memorial to commemorate 26 workers killed in a coal dust and methane explosion at the Westray mine 18 years ago. Canada criminalized corporate disregard for worker safety. It’s called the Westray Law. America needs its own such statute – an Upper Big Branch Law – holding corporate managers and directors criminally accountable for ditching safety for dollars.

China and America decline to acknowledge what everyone else knows: China suppresses the value of its currency to gain a trade advantage over America. This is costing America untold numbers of manufacturers and millions of jobs. The U.S. Treasury Department, which is required by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to name foreign currency manipulators in bi-annual reports, must label China in its April 15 account, then sanction China if it doesn’t begin balancing its currency.

Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, who single-handedly blockaded extension of unemployment benefits to 400,000 and forced the furlough of 2,000 workers, is a Republican Superhero. He personifies the mean-spirited, hypocritical, wealthy-serving, obstructionist GOP.

Incredibly, 84 percent of the $1.05 billion in green energy grants awarded from stimulus funds have gone to foreign wind companies — creating jobs overseas. A strong Buy American clause in the stimulus bill could have prevented off-shoring of U.S. tax dollars intended to create jobs for unemployed Americans.

The Business Council for International Understanding awards the CEO of Vale, a Brazilian mining conglomerate that provoked a strike in Canada five months ago, a special prize for exceptional accomplishments in corporate social responsibility.