Annals of hypocrisy

You really can't make this stuff up. As my friend Ken Ward reported in yesterday's Gazette-Mail, WV's Republican representatives in the US House, who rode to power in part by pretending to give a ____ (fill in the blank) about coal miners, voted to cut funding on the federal Mine Health and Safety Administration.  Fortunately, the measure failed to pass the entire House.

UMWA president Cecil Roberts had this to say about that: "I am gratified that a majority of the House agreed with our position that we should not be cutting coal mine safety at a time when we are experiencing rising fatalities and serious injuries in America’s mines."

I guess you get what you vote for.

Speaking of abominations, then there's this.

It's not all bad (another installment)

There's been a lot of nastiness in the air over the Syrian refugee crisis. It was nice last night to attend an event at the Islamic Center in which Christians, Jews and Muslims stood together against hate and in favor of a humane response.

THIS MAY SOUND LIKE INSIDE BASEBALL, but an article in the Sunday Gazette-Mail by statehouse columnist Phil Kabler shows what happens when media is concentrated into a few very rich and very ideological hands. 

TALKING SENSE IN HUNTINGTON. This Herald-Dispatch editorial argues that mine safety violations should carry felony rather than misdemeanor charges. I'm with them.

A day to remember

This post is being written two hours before  April 28, Workers Memorial Day, which honors all those who died on the job. This time around, it's impossible not to remember the fact that West Virginia has led the nation in mining deaths since 2004. In particular, it is, or should be, impossible to forget those 29 miners who died just a little over five years ago at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine.

As regular readers of this blog know, El Cabrero is something of a hard core if not entirely orthodox Episcopalian. In the words of our Book of Common Prayer, "May light perpetual shine upon them."

And may such things never be again.

Five years out

Yesterday, April 5, marked the 5th anniversary of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine disaster which killed 29 miners. On the bright side, it looks like the families of those who lost loved ones might be a little closer to some kind of justice. On the other hand, as mine safety expert Davitt McAteer argues here, congress has yet to act on mine safety and the Republican WV legislature actually rolled back some mine safety regulations in the last session.

West Virginia's late great Senator Robert C. Byrd nailed it:

"First, the disaster. Then the weeping. Then the outrage. And we are all too familiar with what comes next. After a few weeks, when the cameras are gone, when the ink on the editorials has dried, everything returns to business as usual. The health and the safety of America's coal miners, the men and women upon whom the Nation depends so much, is once again forgotten until the next disaster..."

Not again

As someone from a place that is all too familiar with mine disasters, my heart goes out to those touched by the mine disaster in Turkey, which has claimed nearly 300 lives. My friend Ken Ward had some worthy things to say about the disaster here.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN INDIANA, it looks like another Republican led state is about to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. (Of course, the governor is proposing doing so by extending private coverage, which will probably wind up costing the state more money and having worse coverage than the traditional Medicaid program, but it's still better than doing nothing.)

A foolish consistency

I've been blogging the last stretch about the life and thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who exerted a huge influence on American literature during and after the 19th century. I have to fess up to a love/hate relationship with old Waldo. Sometimes he seems like a pompous windbag. Sometimes I have no idea what he's talking about. But sometimes he's right on. One such case in point is a passage from Self Reliance about the dangers of consistency. Sometimes we stick to a bad opinion or course of action just because we don't want to seem to change. His advice: get over it.

Here's a great passage with one of his more famous lines:

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. 

But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity: yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life, though they should clothe God with shape and color. Leave your theory, as Joseph his coat in the hand of the harlot, and flee.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

SAD NEWS FROM WV. I'm in Vermont at the moment and was saddened and shocked by the news that Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum was gunned down outside the county courthouse.

STILL SAD THREE YEARS LATER. Here's Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo on how we continue to fail coal miners by not enacting tougher safety regulations.

A very palpable hit

There's an interesting story in today's Charleston Gazette regarding the federal prosecutions of Massey Energy officials in the wake of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster which killed 29 West Virginia miners in April 2010. Ken Ward reports:

A former Massey Energy official pleaded guilty this morning to taking part in a decade-long conspiracy to violate mine safety laws and cover up the resulting hazards, and told a federal judge that the company's "chief executive officer" was part of the plot.

An attorney for Blankenship claimed that he was guilty of no wrongdoing. That was a shock.

Apparently, Blankenship has been diverting himself these days with a website, www.donblankenship.com, wherein he touts himself as a "Native of Appalachia," "Job Creator," and "Capitalist and Entrepreneur." Other attributes may come to mind.

HOLY RACIST ART, BATMAN. I used to subscribe to Business Week and learned a good bit there. Occasionally I think about re-subscribing. But not any more.

OF RATS, BRAINS AND HUMANS. A friend sent me a link to this science story, with a comment that things like this worry him about the human race.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

When indeed

West Virginia just hit a milestone with the first coal mining death of 2013. Brandon Townsend, 34, of Delbarton in Mingo County was killed at an eastern Kanawha County mine when a hydraulic jack exploded, according to the Charleston Daily Mail. I wonder how many more there will be,

Meanwhile, WV's 2012 mine safety legislation, which wasn't worth cracking open a really good bottle of wine over (sorry about ending that phrase with a preposition), still hasn't been implemented. Although it made some modest improvements in state law, plenty of people, including myself, were critical of its drug testing provisions, since drug abuse hasn't been a factor in any major mine disaster.

In other coal news, mining employment dropped in the last quarter of 2012, with a total of 1,200 jobs lost. Ken Ward reports that 2/3 of the losses occurred in surface mines.

Since I'm leaning pretty hard on Ken today, let me give a final shout out to this great post of his at Coal Tattoo, which asks, not for the first time, "When will W.Va. plan for 'after coal?'"

From what I can tell, the answer so far is, not any time soon.

Like a dog

I've been meaning to blog about Moby-Dick here but today another literary classic is on my mind. That would be The Trial by Franz Kafka, one of his more Kafkaesque novels. In it, the protagonist, Josef K., finds himself accused of a crime but is never told what it is. He must devote a great deal of effort to his defense, although he has no idea how to do that. In the end, he is casually executed. His last words describe the killing:  "Like a dog."

That's pretty much the way the majority on the WV Board of Education treated former superintendent Jorea Marple, an amazingly capable and dedicated educator. The school board is supposed to "reconsider" her firing tomorrow, although I imagine they will only do it over again. If anyone should be fired, I'd start with them.

ON THE OTHER HAND, sometimes the American justice system works better than Mr. Kafka's. I was encouraged by this announcement of the latest development in the federal criminal investigation of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine disaster. I hope it keeps on getting better and better.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Coal stuff

You can't be around most WV politicians very long without hearing about the Obama administration's "war on coal." According to this scenario, the EPA is a rogue agency totally bent on destroying the inoffensive industry and everything would be just peachy without it.

This post from the WV Center on Budget and Policy suggests that regulations aren't the main problem here.

Meanwhile, this post by Beth Spence reminds me that the same people jabbering on about the "war on coal" are the same ones who could make meaningful mine safety legislation pass--but they can't be bothered to do that.

The lion in summer

Pictures of Arpad, Great Pyrenees and security chief at Goat Rope Farm, have often graced this blog. During the winter, he looks pretty regal, reminding me of the noble lion Aslan from C.S. Lewis' Narnia books. In the summer, however, not so much.

Because his hair is so think, he gets miserable when temperatures rise. So, around late may or early June we break out the clippers and attempt to give him a bit of a shave.

Let's just say the results aren't pretty and it takes several assaults to make a real dent in the old fuzz bucket. A neighbor described the shorn version, not too unjustly, as "the biggest white rat I ever saw."

But he still looks like an angel to me.

HOW MUCH LONGER? Here's an item by a co-worker on how family members of miners who died in Massey's Upper Big Branch disaster and still urging Congress to move on mine safety.

THE POLITICS OF COAL  are the topic of this post from Ken Ward's Coal Tattoo.

GOT FIGS? Here are the latest musings on war, peace, drones, gardens and such from the Rev. Jim Lewis.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Upper Big Branch families seek justice

This week, some family members of miners killed in Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch disaster went to Washington to talk with senators and congressional representatives about the need for mine safety legislation. As is often the case, Ken Ward said it best at Coal Tattoo:

You couldn’t follow them on Twitter or watch them live on the Internet. Nobody got arrested or sang protest songs.  It wasn’t part of some national call-in day. None of the big national groups who spend so much time talking about the damage coal inflicts on Appalachia were part of it or said anything about it.

 But earlier this week, the families of three of the miners who died in the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster were in Washington, D.C., trying their best to push Congress to pass legislation aimed at protecting the health and safety of our nation’s coal miners....

The other side wasn't much help either, as Ward notes:

I was left wondering why political leaders and industry front groups that profess to care so much about coal miners haven’t staged a massive protest outside the Capitol, demanding that Congress act to pass the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act. Why hasn’t the West Virginia Coal Forum used taxpayer money to bus coal miners to Washington to talk about health and safety? Why doesn’t FACES of Coal run constant ads on the radio demanding safety reforms? 

Where were the Friends of Coal when the Upper Big Branch miners needed them?

(I think we might know the answer to that.)

Here's additional coverage from WV Public Radio, the Associated Press, and the Huffington Post.

Short rations

For several months, I've been working with friends on a report about prison overcrowding in WV. Among the groups involved were the WV Center on Budget and Policy, the Partnership of African American Churches, and the American Friends Service Committee. We released it last week. Here's the report and here's some media coverage.


MINE SAFETY. Here's Ken Ward on WV's new mine safety legislation which is currently working its way through the statehouse. Methinks he's a bit underwhelmed. As a person of very low expectations, I have a little more positive take on it.

I MUST BE GOING TO THE WRONG yoga classes.

POLITICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE. What does reality  have to do with it, anyway?

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Back on track?

Yesterday, Feb. 26, marked the 40th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek disaster, when a coal waste dam owned by Pittston Coal broke collapsed, killing 125 people, wiping out several communities and leaving thousands homeless.

In other coal news, it looks like the mine safety bill under consideration in the WV legislature may be back on track despite efforts by coal industry lobbyists. You can find two different takes on it at the Gazette website. Statehouse columnist Phil Kabler sees it as a sign of the weakening power of the coal lobby as other major power players emerge:

How times have changed: After being moved to the inactive House calendar last week over objections from coal industry lobbyists, Gov.Earl Ray Tomblin's coal safety legislation (HB4351) is back on the active calendar and will be on amendment stage on the House floor this morning, after all sides worked out an agreement Friday.

Actually, not so much a compromise as the Tomblin administration and House leadership, under Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne, drawing a line in the sand telling the industry no further concessions would be granted.

It wasn't too long ago that the process was the other way around. However, with competition from gambling interests, big Pharma and, increasingly, the gas/petrochemical industry, coal is not the predominant lobbying force at the Legislature anymore.

Meanwhile, Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo questions whether the legislation does all it could to protect miners.

I have mixed feelings. Far be it from me to question Ward's analysis of its weaknesses. But I am glad that mine safety is on the agenda at all and that  the original bill as proposed by the governor was improved by pressure from the House. And I think it is a significant victory that everyone didn't just, pardon the expression, cave in to the coal industry as has all too frequently happened in the past.

It's still not a done deal until it passes the full House and completes the process on the Senate side, so there is plenty of room for more surprises.

So many rant-worthy topics, so little time

There's so much going on these days, I feel like shouting "Serenity now!" like Frank Costanza on those Seinfeld reruns.  First off, it looks like a coal mine safety bill is hung up in the WV legislature because coal industry lobbyists aren't entirely happy with some of its provisions.

Silly me--I thought the purpose of the bill was to make coal mines safer for the people who actually work in them rather than to gratify the people who profit from their labor. The Gazette had a good editorial on that.

On the bright side, the superintendent of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine has been indicted. Here's hoping there's more of the same all the way up the chain.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the state mine safety agency released its report on the disaster Thursday. Its findings back up previous reports by the Governor's Independent Investigative Panel, MSHA, and the UMWA.

It will be a total disgrace (not the first of its kind) if the state fails to pass new and strong safety legislation because legislators are so cravenly servile to coal.

Speaking of possums

Yesterday's post about possums reminded me of a little adventure from back when the Spousal Unit and I served on our local volunteer fire department. It went like this...

One Monday night, we went to our usual meeting/training session at the fire house. We could tell right away something was wrong. A climate of fear pervaded the station.

"We're so glad you came, " some of the guys said.

They weren't talking to me. They were talking to the Spousal Unit, who was regarded as something of a critter whisperer.

It turned out there was a terrifying intruder in the station that day, a savage beast that struck fear into the hearts of stalwart men who would rush to burning buildings, hazmat spills, explosive car crashes and other dangerous situations.

A baby possum under a fire truck to be exact...

To make a long story short, she put on gloves, crawled under the truck, picked up the possum, took it out back to a field and gave it some dry cat food.

The boys were in awe. I never got that kind of respect. But then, I'm not a possum whisperer.

DEFICIT HYSTERIA DISORDER treated here.

MORE ON MINE SAFETY from Ken Ward's Coal Tattoo blog here.

URGENT TINY CHAMELEON UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Some kind of omen

Image by way of wikipedia.


The ancient Greeks and Romans, and other peoples as well, frequently sought for signs or omens in the flight of birds or actions of various animals.

If I leaned that way, I'd be searching for the message in this: early this morning the Spousal Unit and I saw something unusual while walking our boxer. First, there was a weird sound on the hill that reminded me of crows cawing. Then, in the early light, we saw three shapes moving which turned out to be possums. Two of them got into a pretty serious fight while one looked on (unless they were mating in a most unseemly and indecorous manner). Our best guess is that two males were fighting over a female.

It was quite a possum zoot suit riot. I've seen a few possums in my day, but never anything quite like this.

I wonder what the Romans would have made of it...

The only thing I know for sure is that those guys were lucky Arpad, our Great Pyrenees, sat this walk out. He has long since declared unconditional war on all such creatures and would have taken all three out in the blink of an eye.

MINE SAFETY. Here's my latest rant in the Gazette.

A DEAL has apparently been reached on extending unemployment insurance.

PLUTOCRACY VS. DEMOCRACY. The latter is the underdog.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

For the hell of it

I'm not sure what this says about the state of marital bliss at Goat Rope Farm, but the Spousal Unit and I plan to celebrate Valentine's Day by watching a 1911 silent film adaptation of Dante's Inferno.

OBAMA'S BUDGET. Here's a preliminary take by Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

MORE ON MINE SAFETY AND DRUG TESTING here.

ANIMAL ART, ANYONE? Click here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Class warfare, revisited

Right wingers frequently accuse people of class warfare any time anything related to inequality is discussed, but they are the best ones at waging it. Here's just one example: due to federal budget cuts pushed through last year have resulted in Legal Aid of West Virginia laying off 15 case handlers and closing the office in Logan County.

Legal Aid served over 24,000 West Virginians in 2010.

Similar cuts are taking place around the country. Add to that efforts to restrict access to the ballot and shred safety net programs and the truth becomes a little clearer.

I'd like to be able to call down some kind of cosmic retribution on the perpetrators, but I'm afraid my clout doesn't reach that far. I guess it's up to us.

THE SAFETY NET: WHO NEEDS IT? Lots of folks.

COMFORT FOOD is the theme of the latest edition of Notes From Under the Fig Tree by the Rev. Jim Lewis (disclosure: I gave the woman mentioned in the second part of the newsletter his telephone number).

SIDESHOWS. Here's Ken Ward with more on the tenuous connection between mine safety and drug tests.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Of shoes and walking

I took part in a press conference today aimed at urging Congress to pass a clean extension of unemployment benefits. The theme of the event, and of similar events around the country, was "Walk in my shoes" and among the people who spoke was an unemployed electrician.

It occurred to me that the theme of walking in the shoes of other people fits pretty well. It's a basic matter of empathy, which aside from being a basic human trait also seems to be found in the animal world. Back in the 18th century, philosophers like Adam Smith and David Hume argued that the real basis of morality lay in the emotions. Smith's book on the subject was titled The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

As chance would have it, this week I picked up a new book at the library titled The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty by Simon Baron-Cohen (cousin of Sacha of Borat fame). Unlike other books on the subject, this one zooms in on the brain. I haven't got through the book yet, but I think he argues that the root of  human cruelty and evil is a breakdown of empathy....which unfortunately seems to be pretty popular these days.

SPEAKING OF MORALS AND ECONOMIC MATTERS, check this out.

MINE SAFETY AND DISTRACTIONS. Here's a good blog post from Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo on Governor Tomblin's mine safety bill, which is more about drug testing.

AN ALZHEIMER'S BREAKTHROUGH? Maybe.

  GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED