This whole thing makes me sick.  I work in construction and know how dangerous it can be.  The
thought that this company could have as many violations that it had and continued to operate
unimpeded makes me scream.  Eleven men are dead, and now the company is probably scrambling
to do damage control. Well, it is too damn late for the eleven men and the web of people involved.
This is on the politics page because it exposes the joke that government regulations protect the
working person.  200+ violations and the company went on its merry way.  Fines in the neighborhood
of 60 to 100 dollars!  What do you call that?  The value they place on lives of workers, cheaper than a speeding ticket. 

This whole thing makes me sick.  I work in construction and know how dangerous it can be.  The
thought that this company could have as many violations that it had and continued to operate
unimpeded makes me scream.  Eleven men are dead, and now the company is probably scrambling
to do damage control. Well, it is too damn late for the eleven men and the web of people involved.
This is on the politics page because it exposes the joke that government regulations protect the
working person.  200+ violations and the company went on its merry way.  Fines in the neighborhood
of 60 to 100 dollars!  What do you call that?  The value they place on lives of workers, cheaper than a speeding ticket. 


I agree 100%, Danoota. Its like what one of the sons of one of the trapped miners said; things were allowed to become this unsafe because Reagan(the most vile, phony, and heartless person to ever sit in the Oval Office) allowed them to run the unions out. People just do not realise the importance of unions in protecting the workers of this country, and now thanks to the ignorant(and ungrateful) backlash we've had against unions in this country over the past 20 years, 12(I saw 12, where did you hear 11?) people are dead. And as far as I'm concerned, the blood lies on the hands of every person in America over the last few years who has worked to destroy unionized labor in this country.

Shame on Ben Hatfield, shame on Ronald Reagan, and anyone else who is part of that nest of vipers that has worked so hard to destory the American middle class over the last few decades.

Makes me want to go watch the movie "Matewan".  >:(

Makes me want to go watch the movie "Matewan".  >:(



I thought I was the only one who saw(and appreciated) that movie, you won't see that played on TV.
The bigger problem is that the Miners.  At some point you have to sit down and say no, and when that
happens all the brother members across the country have to do the same.  When the transit workers
in New York went on strike all transit workers should have sat out at least one day enmasse in support.
The working people in this country are their own worst enemy.

I thought I was the only one who saw(and appreciated) that movie, you won't see that played on TV.
The bigger problem is that the Miners.  At some point you have to sit down and say no, and when that
happens all the brother members across the country have to do the same.  When the transit workers
in New York went on strike all transit workers should have sat out at least one day enmasse in support.
The working people in this country are their own worst enemy.


Exactly. The only way that the worker's can succesfully stand their ground against the bosses is unity.

The working man is indeed his own worst enemy. Its like my stepdad. The guy worked hard all of his life, doing manual labor. And he hates unions. He allows the propaganda floating out there to influence him, and all he is actually doing his hurting himself. Its like Animal Farm and thd old horse(cant remember his name) that insisted he trusted the people in charge(or in this case, pigs) and that if he worked hard then things would work out ok. But when they come to take him to the glue factory, it is too late.

Makes me shake my head in amazement at how easily the chickens can be persuaded into supporting the colonel.  :(

The media really stepped in it with this tragedy.  Last night they were all cheering, "They're alive!  Hooray! Hooray!...oh, sorry, we were wrong.  They're all dead.  Uh..."  I can only imagine how painful that must have been for the families.
::)

This is a travesty.  Many people, most notably the media, irresponsibly hastened to conclusions and ultimately were forced to eat crow.  Something this heartwrenching and important to the families should not be sensationalized.  It reminds me of the whole media scandal involving Dan Rather and the phony Bush military service documents.

Anyone who believes that our government supports middle-class workers is living in Candyland.  All the vast majority of these scoundrels care about are the sizes of their own bank accounts and those of the rich corporations who provide them with valuable campaign funding. 

Let's see if the media keeps an eye on this company and its safety violations.  Let's see if the company
pays any fines.  Let's see how the workers end up paying while the mine is shut down and they lose
wages, but the company bosses just write it off as a business loss and hit the links until it all blows over.

My father use to say "If you take a job and there's a union, join it!  If there isn't, form one."  We also need a new political movement, a LABOR PARTY.

Considering the number of violations I would think in a just and honest world that the owners would
be charged with at the minimum negligent homicide.  But we know that won't happen.  Things haven't
changed as much as people want to believe since the Triangle Shirt Waist and the days of the Lowell
Mills.

The owners of the mine were relatively new, just last year, if I've heard correctly.  It also appears that the new owners were improving safety and the number of citations were down quite a bit from the number the previous owners had received.  However, I think they could have done much more to make it safer.  I don't think they should be charged with a crime, however.


I'm not educated in law so this is just speculative on my part, however, would it legally matter how long they have been the owners? As the new owners they should have been aware of any existing safety violations, and if they were they should have closed down the mine temporarily to address those violations. If they knew about them, yet let the mining go on as normal when they took over ownership I'd tend to think they'd still be legally liable.

The owners of the mine were relatively new, just last year, if I've heard correctly.  It also appears that the new owners were improving safety and the number of citations were down quite a bit from the number the previous owners had received.  However, I think they could have done much more to make it safer.  I don't think they should be charged with a crime, however.


The new owner plea doesn't wash.  These are high-powered owners with lots of lawyers and lots of money and they could have insisted that existing violations be remedied before the purchase.  Once they signed the transfer of ownership it was on their shoulders.  They knew what they were getting into and played the odds.  The number of violations shows a reckless disregard for safety.  I work in construction and know people who have died through the negligence of saftey concerns on the job.  If owners know that their disregard of safety standards could wind them up in jail my job will be safer. 

The media really stepped in it with this tragedy.  Last night they were all cheering, "They're alive!  Hooray! Hooray!...oh, sorry, we were wrong.  They're all dead.  Uh..."  I can only imagine how painful that must have been for the families.
::)


Geraldo really made a fool out of himself.

Geraldo really made a fool out of himself.

What else is new?


This is a travesty.  Many people, most notably the media, irresponsibly hastened to conclusions and ultimately were forced to eat crow.  Something this heartwrenching and important to the families should not be sensationalized.  It reminds me of the whole media scandal involving Dan Rather and the phony Bush military service documents.

Anyone who believes that our government supports middle-class workers is living in Candyland.  All the vast majority of these scoundrels care about are the sizes of their own bank accounts and those of the rich corporations who provide them with valuable campaign funding. 

Sorry, I'm not buying it.  Dan was just dupe.  Guys like Brit Hume are free to get up there and lie their azzes off and present the most rightward biased Bush-cheerleading propaganda broadcast they possibly can.  Hume is universally beloved by the corporate media and it's pseudo-liberal panelists such as Juan Williams and Mara Liason.  The whole thing is a farce.
Dan Rather has been under attack from half-witted bullies like Bernie Goldberg for the past several years as part of a concerted effort to turn the major media (which is business/Wall Street biased already, not liberal) into fascist state media.

The previous owners were in bankruptcy and planning to close the mine.  If ICG had put those stipulations on the purchase, there wouldn't have been a purchase, the mine would've closed and these people would've been out of jobs. 

You seem to think I'm saying the new owners are guilt-free in this.  I'm not, but they are reporting that they think the cause of the explosion was a lightning strike that ignited the methane gas that is a product of nature.  If that turns out to be the case, there is nothing that the company could have done to prevent this tragedy.

I also believe that the government should have done more to insure that the violations were corrected.



So what's better, to be out of a job or to be dead?  The lives of working people have always been cheap, and always will be until the working class puts a stop to it.

These people knowingly risked their lives by going down into those mines each and every time they did.  And yes, I think the government AND the company should have done more to prevent this, but I don't think they're 100% at fault.


I agree with you there.  I have put my job on the line by refusing to things I deemed dangerous.  To do anything less is to negate the advances made by the labor unions.The miners knew of the violations and the miners, their stewards, and union officials should have been there standing at the gate forcing the issue of safety before this happened.

Sorry, I'm not buying it.  Dan was just dupe.  Guys like Brit Hume are free to get up there and lie their azzes off and present the most rightward biased Bush-cheerleading propaganda broadcast they possibly can.  Hume is universally beloved by the corporate media and it's pseudo-liberal panelists such as Juan Williams and Mara Liason.  The whole thing is a farce.
Dan Rather has been under attack from half-witted bullies like Bernie Goldberg for the past several years as part of a concerted effort to turn the major media (which is business/Wall Street biased already, not liberal) into fascist state media.


You have a way with words.

My father use to say "If you take a job and there's a union, join it!  If there isn't, form one."  We also need a new political movement, a LABOR PARTY.


If it ends up anything like the British model, DC...don't bother!

If it ends up anything like the British model, DC...don't bother!


;D I agree.

Three cheers for Charles Kennedy!  ;)

The mining industry in America needs to start importing Chinese miners to work in West Virginia.  Chinese miners die by the thousands every year, and nobody gives a rat's azz.  Well, some do, but they keep quiet about it, because if they don't keep quiet about it, they'll get sent to a prison camp!
::)

Three cheers for Charles Kennedy!  ;)


'Hic, hic...hooray...'

You have a way with words.

Nope.  I gotta a way wid de nekkid troof!
;D