I don't know any coal miners. But if I did, these excerpts from an article on the CNN newswire yesterday would really make me mad.

"...While the cause of Monday's blast remained unknown, the deaths turned a harsh spotlight on the safety record of Massey (the mine owner), which has paid record fines for safety and environmental violations....

...U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-West Virginia,, said 'the mine appears to be a bad apple, there's no question about it, because of the history of violations, including as late as March 30 of this year'....

...People associated with Massey Energy, including it's CEO, have donated more than $307,000 to federal candidates since the 1990 election cycle, with 91 percent going to Republican candidates, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group....

...In 2004, the Massey CEO spent $3 million to support a campaign by Brent Benjamin, who successfully ran for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. At the time, Massey was involved in a business dispute with a rival mining company, and a jury in 2002 had awarded the other company, Harman Mining, $50 million.

By the time Massey appealed the decision in 2006, Benjamin was on the court. Benjamin refused to recuse himself from the appeal, and then voted to overturn the jury's verdict. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled last year that Benjamin should have recused himself."

Anyone think that special interest money might have had anything to do with the deaths of the miners?

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

I don't know any coal miners. But if I did, these excerpts from an article on the CNN newswire yesterday would really make me mad.

"...While the cause of Monday's blast remained unknown, the deaths turned a harsh spotlight on the safety record of Massey (the mine owner), which has paid record fines for safety and environmental violations....

...U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-West Virginia,, said 'the mine appears to be a bad apple, there's no question about it, because of the history of violations, including as late as March 30 of this year'....

...People associated with Massey Energy, including it's CEO, have donated more than $307,000 to federal candidates since the 1990 election cycle, with 91 percent going to Republican candidates, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group....

...In 2004, the Massey CEO spent $3 million to support a campaign by Brent Benjamin, who successfully ran for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. At the time, Massey was involved in a business dispute with a rival mining company, and a jury in 2002 had awarded the other company, Harman Mining, $50 million.

By the time Massey appealed the decision in 2006, Benjamin was on the court. Benjamin refused to recuse himself from the appeal, and then voted to overturn the jury's verdict. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled last year that Benjamin should have recused himself."

Anyone think that special interest money might have had anything to do with the deaths of the miners?

First of all, as someone who grew up in Western Pennsylvania I have great empathy for those who work in the coal mines and my prayers go out to the families.

Now...please explain what the contributions to political parties and what party has to do with the accident ?

Read recently...fact is just this week, that this administration wont or cant limit methane emissions despite the previous administration (you know the REAL bad guys) would require limitations. This sort of wipes out or at minimum makes a wash the recent BS on auto emissions.

But, please tell me what the political party OR political donations have to do with the accident. While it is interesting, you imply it had something to do with this accident in some way !

I was born and raised in the coalfields of Virginia just a couple of hours from the disaster in West Virginia. As a matter of fact, when I heard about the mine explosion I called my stepdaughter in Connecticut to see where her dad (my ex-husband) and her brother (my stepson) were working. The work for a company that does mine maintenance and construction and were actually doing work there two weeks ago.

A build up of methane gas most likely caused the explosion. All coal mines have methane gas, it a natural occurrence in coal seams. Some mines are "gassier" than others. The mines in the area where this happened are very gassy mines. They require ventilation. It is the job of the Mine, Safety and Health Administration inspectors to see that violations are corrections.

Nick Rahall and Jay Rockefeller are Democratic politicians who have fought against Massey Energy for years. It's all about money and power and private interest influencing our judicial system. Massey Energy, a completely non-union operation, has always been a controversial and hot button topic in the coalfields. It is the fourth largest mine operation in America. AT Massey's mines in that area are protected with guards armed with high powered rifles with scopes because of ongoing fights with pro-union residents. The area is very, very poor and those mines were union for years. They shut the mines down and came back to life about ten years ago as non-union. People who work there were starved for work after having the mines shut down for so long. They were willing to work non-union mines to survived. That doesn't sit well with West Virginia unions.

Don Blankenship, Massey Energy's CEO, who I had a working relationship with as a reporter in the area for years, is very, very political. He was photographed on the French Riveria with the judge mentioned in the article you quoted. He supports Republicans and works to out any Democrats who support unions.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Ym8qqR5vU[/ame]

I may be naive but what is this thread about? Am I wrong that the unions
"own" the Democratic party? Have the unions not given millions of dollars to the democrats?
Am I mistaken that big government and unions are bankrupting this country?
How is the non-union supposed to fight back????

Originally Posted by Bucco

Now...please explain what the contributions to political parties and what party has to do with the accident ?

...please tell me what the political party OR political donations have to do with the accident. While it is interesting, you imply it had something to do with this accident in some way !

Yeah, those contributions might have a lot to do with the accident.

The Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) is a division of the Department of Labor. That organization, as well as sister groups in the states, set mining safety regulations and inspect for compliance. The MSHA also has the legal authority to assess fines and even shut down a mine to force compliance with their federal regulations.

Other federal laws with significant impact are the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, all of which apply to the operation of a mine.

Bucco, I think you can see that some well-placed campaign finance contributions to the people who are elected and appoint the people who run these agencies, establish the regulations and inspect for compliance might be an "investment" that a special interest group like a mine owner or group of mine owners might wish to make. This mine owner appears to have taken the "investment" idea even a step farther by making a big contribution to an appeals court judge running for election, knowing that his company had a $50 million appeals case which would be argued in front of that judge if he were to be elected. Nice to know you might have one out of three judges on the appeals court already in your pocket, don't you think?

By mentioning it in my post, I made the assumption that anyone reading it would understand that. Sorry.