Post have been pretty heavy here lately, and for good reason. I came across this video at Gizmodo this morning and I figure there can’t be a much better way to describe our mutual responsibility to each other.
We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot from dmahr on Vimeo.
The New York Times has a long piece on Mine Safety Regulation this morning.
In a tangentially related link, Treehugger has a series of satelite photos of an area of West Virginia that’s undergone Mountain Top Removal Mining.
A tragic end to rescue operations. News stories and internet coverage for 4/10.
Brief bios of some of the blasts victims from the New York Times.
Jason Linkins has a post at Huffington Post covering Blankenship and Massey Energy’s problems with safety regulations. Linkins provides a number of links that I haven’t been able to follow up on yet.
Huffington Post is also fund-raising money for their investigative fund to explore mining tragedies.
I wanted to take a moment to highlight a side note from the coverage of the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion. From the New York Times we learn that the Westboro Baptist Church, the Kansas church best known for its ongoing protest of homosexuality by protesting the funerals of dead soldiers. The logic being that God hates gays and therefore is punishing the United States’ tolerance of homosexuality by killing its soldiers. (Because obviously being in a war has nothing to do with the deaths of soldiers.) The inconsistencies in that argument aside, the church and its leader Fred Phelps have sought out the media spotlight by being as shocking as possible and then pressing their first amendment rights.
In this light they’ve turned their sights to West Virginia. From this New York Times story we get the addled thought process that’s led them to step into the tragedy at Upper Big Branch. This time though, it’s not tolerance of gays that led to tragedy. No, it’s much more focused on the Westboro Baptist Church. The miners at Upper Big Branch died because the church had received threats from West Virginia about an upcoming trip to that state. The take away quote from the church’s statement:
“So God reached down and smacked one of those mines, killing 25 (and likely four more are dead),” it said. “Now you moan and wallow in self-pity, and pour over the details of the dead rebels’ lives, pretending they’re heroes.”
This is not new though. The church did the same thing after the Sago mine disaster in 2006.
While I’m certainly giving them the exposure they are so desperate for, you have to admit that their methods are effective. Honestly, it’s difficult to ignore such bottom feeders when they rise up to the surface and assert themselves so blatantly. To interrupt funerals, a matter of collective mourning and closure that is at the same time infinitely private, is the very portrait of hubris. Perhaps the only thing that can break the taboo is hatred and an unyielding belief that those in mourning and those dead are not worthy of the observance of the most basic protocols, not mourning or condolences, but simple silence.
As I thought over the church’s statement today I realized what was so shocking to me was not the blindly projected hatred, which is its standard, but the hubris as it broke into absurdity. In this instance, the reason for this disaster is that someone somewhere in West Virginia “threatened” the Westboro Baptist Church. God is, apparently, at their beck and call, yet incapable of a targeted strike. Those mourning are not victims, but criminals in the eyes of God apparently for not policing their neighbors to keep them from insulting the Westboro Baptist Church. And the miners themselves are rebels against the church’s “holy” cause: self-aggrandizement.
If they are rebels for this, let mine be a life of rebellion.
It is an absurdity that certainly cuts deep, but maybe it’s one that can bind too. So odious a group is also capable of breaking boundaries including the political spectrum of right and left and create simpler definitions. Basic humanity versus self-deluded fools. Proof? I found myself on the same side as Bill O’Reilly who recently offered to pay the court fees of Albert Snyder, the father of a slain soldier whose funeral was the site of a protest by the church. Politically, I don’t have much in common with Bill O’Reilly, but I applaud this motion.
According to the Charleston Gazette the communal motion the Westboro Baptist Church inadvertently breeds is alive and well. Counter protests are being planned (and likely have already taken place) in light of Phelps’ church’s continued rallies in the state. As the article notes:
Those sponsors include groups that don’t often work together, Weinstein said — “the state Chamber of Commerce, the University of Charleston, the religious community, various nonprofit organizations, veterans’ groups.
“So out of something ugly, something very beautiful is happening. The fabric of our community is being woven more tightly together.”
Amen
I’m continuing to collect news and internet coverage of the Upper Big Branch Mine Blast.
New York Times coverage for the morning of 4/8.
The New York Times takes a look at the complicated background and local loyalties surrounding Massey Energy Co. and its CEO Don Blankenship.
CNN gives some background into one of the blast’s victims, Joshua Napper.
I’m continuing to collect news and internet coverage of the mining tragedy at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal West Virginia. Due to time constraints I’m playing catch up on some of these posts and they rightfully belong in yesterday’s post. I’ll try to distinguish these in my links.
A background story about mine safety regulation and Massey Energy Co. Ceo Don Blankenship.
Some posts from the blog Daily Kos about mining and Blankenship:
On safety violations at Massey Energy Co. mines.
About air circulation and construction in mines and the damning nature of memos from Blankenship.
Some statistics about mine safety and unions.
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I will be keeping a running log of news stories related to this tragedy in this post and following it up with subsequent posts examining the tragedy and the press and national reaction to it. Right now though our obvious thoughts should be for the missing miners and all of the families struggling through this.
President Obama speaks about the tragedy via CNN
West Virginia Gov. Manchin interview via CNN
Massy Energy Co. Safety Violations via the AP and Huffington Post (This is also an update of the previous AP news story link.)
ABC News reports on Massey Energy Co. Safety Violations and the questionable relationship between Massey CEO Don Blankenship and West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin. Video of confrontation between ABC reporters and Blankenship included.
Video of press conferences about tragedy via New York Times.
A brief bio of one of the victims of the explosion via New York Times.
CNN reports on Massey Energy Co.’s safety record.
Not news, but Boing Boing has a q&a with Christopher Bise, chair of West Virginia University’s Mining Engineering department, about methane in mines. The comments are intriguing thanks to their range and for the dialogue it raises between those who are local to mining regions and aware of its history and those who believe the positivist story of American mining history.
Errant Reader 