Crew Rushes to Get to Trapped W.Va. Miners

[brien]

Quote by: lsbskins1 I have a question for all you "Free Marketers" out there... News is, this mine had 96 major safety violations in the last year, and something like 206 total violations. Can I, as a consumer, use the free market to my advantage and refuse electricity from coal that was pulled from this mine? How, exactally, without "evil government regulation", i.e., real enforcement from the government in the form of fines that mean it is more expensive for these assholes to say "screw safety" than it is for them to do the right thing. Maybe this was a freak, natural accident. I doubt it though.

The miners could have refused to go down into the mine. Afterall, who better than they to judge the mine's safety? Most workers I know understand their work enviornment better than any outsider.

If I was one of those miners, I would not risk my life descending into a mine I knew was unsafe. It wouldn't matter one iota to me who said it was safe of unsafe. The ultimate decision would rest with me. And I wouldn't go untilit was safe.

I am NOT blaming the miners. I am saying they had a choice. If no one were to descend into an unsafe mine, the company would have to make it safe in order to make it productive.

No amount of desperation would make me go two miles underground knowing it was unsafe. Some may say well, they need to support their families. Well I ask, who will support their families now?

Those miners needed to stick together and refuse to mine the coal until the company made the mine safe to work.

[lsbskins1]

What I don't get is how you equate an income tax with a dog having more rights than you do. What I don't get is how you think deregulating business will increase your freedom. If someone is free to poisen your ground water, your state of freedom is increased in what way? You are free to own that land with a poisened well without fear of the government siezing that land under an imminent domain claim? So fucking what? And so what if you can't shoot someone because they are trespassing. Last I checked, that was not a capital crime? You do not have the right to the ultimate sanction because someone wants to steal your dvd player. You cry over bullshit. I do worry about civil liberties, but the real ones. The... oh, never mind.

[shield772]

Well so much for not debating

[shield772]

My understanding is that the explosion was caused by an external freak lightning strike, that this had nothing to do with internal safety problems/issues, this is what has been reported to this point, I concede that further investigation may prove this to be wrong, WV mines have become quite safe as far as mines go, the miners have unions, they have great wages and benefits, and I know none of this replaces the lost life of a loved one I was just responding to some of the previous posts in this thread.

[lsbskins1]

I would like to ramp down a little. I tend to be a little passionate about certain things. I tried to be level headed in the beginning and acknowledge that I did not know if this was completely caused by natural, external factors beyond the control of the minning company. That is possible. But, as I said, they have been sighted with many major safety violations and that should lead people to be vigilent in investigation. And remember, just because the initial cause of the problem may have been "natural", that does not preclude the possibility that the company was not up to snuff on taking necessary precautions against foreseeable dangers. Both of my grandfathers worked the mines. My job is connected to the minning industry in a big way. I find it insulting that some people have the nerve to suggest that the people who work in the mines are to blame if they die working for an unsafe company. In an area of the country where the major source of employment is this industry, where to feed your family and pay your bills you have precious few alternatives, and when the guys who own and run these opperations make loads of money, to say that the responsibility to insure a safe workplace rests with workers themselves is just silly. Striking for safe conditions is an option open to miners, but it is the responsibility of those taking the profits to insure that the opperation is safe to the workers and to the public, case closed.