The WV Mine Disaster: Where Was the "Canary in the Coal Mine"?

These song birds were pleasant and faithful guardians of miner's until just a couple decades ago and people might be surprised to find out just why canaries were replaced by modern sensors, which apparently were little help at the recent mine disaster and explosion due to gas at Montcoal. One of the leading reasons for banishing these feathered friends of miners was this:

New electronic detectors will replace the bird because they are said to be cheaper in the long run and more effective

You read that right. Modern technology is "cheaper in the long run" than canaries. Cost-cutting is only justifiable if mine safety is not sacrificed. One wonders if the 29 who were killed would have suffered that fate if canaries were singing down there with them. Modern technology apparently gave no clear alarm for the miners to heed in time.

Should the use of the "canary in the coal mine" be restored?

clipped from www.msha.gov THE COAL MINER'S CANARY clipped from en.wikipedia.org Miner's canary Canaries were once regularly used in coal mining as an early warning system.[1] Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane in the mine would kill the bird before affecting the miners. Because canaries tend to sing much of the time, they provided both a visual and audible cue in this respect. The use of so called miner's canaries in British mines was phased out in 1987.[2] clipped from www.wsaz.com BREAKING NEWS: Four Missing Miners Found Dead Inside Mine, 29 Killed During Monday's Blast During an early morning news conference, Governor Joe Manchin announced that the four missing miners were found dead inside the mine. A federal investigation into what caused Monday's explosion will begin next week. SATURDAY 12:30am Final Press Briefing clipped from news.bbc.co.uk 1986: Coal mine canaries made redundant New electronic detectors will replace the bird because they are said to be cheaper in the long run and more effective The canary is particularly sensitive to toxic gases such as carbon monoxide

Tea Party Movement vs. GOP Establishment: The Republican Civil War

In a string of GOP primary elections stretching from now until September, the future ideological composition of the elephant party hangs in the balance. Many of these primaries pit self-consciously hard-core conservatives, often aligned with the Tea Party movement, against “establishment” candidates—some who are incumbents, and some who are simply vulnerable to being labeled “RINOs” or “squishes” for expressing insufficiently ferocious conservative views.

Bingo, like we posted previously, with McCain vs. Hayworth and Rand Paul vs. Grayson (who now has NEO-conservative Cheney pitching for him) as two case studies in point. The GOP Establishment is now skeered. They should be, they do not represent the views of the mass of real conservative constituencies, nor the Constitution either. Independents now rule and determine winners, and both the Democrats and Republican Establishments are waking up to that fact, but do not want to make the real changes needed to their present courses.

Article here:
The Republican Civil War | The New Republic

CoerciveCare: 20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms

Below are the first five. See the source for the rest. Then ask yourself why insurance companies (who establish rates by mathematical models of probabilities of risks and costs) would lower premiums, and not raise them, when they are forced to provide insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, or for all irregardless of physical condition or health risk. Answer: they will immediately begin to raise rates, like Blue Cross has done, irregardless of the number of new enrollees (which will increase their revenues significantly), because the number of enrollees never effects health insurance rates and premiums, which are built upon individual and collective risks.

Further, mandating that everyone buy health insurance from private companies, under threat of law, is not "providing better health care" for "millions of Americans", it is violating their Constitutional rights and freedom from arbitrary government powers for which Attorney General Darrell McGraw (who swore to uphold the Constitution when entering office) should join the other 13 States in suing for an injunction. McGraw stated that he would not join the lawsuit because the lawsuit is "political". But this is dishonest, for it is for "political" reasons that he will NOT join the lawsuits, even though his duty as AG is to uphold our legal rights and the U.S. Constitution, irregardless of political pressures, including the 10th amendment and the principles of private property. The government has no lawful power to command free American citizens to purchase anything whatsoever from private companies.

20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms

1. You are young and don’t want health insurance? You are starting up a small business and need to minimize expenses, and one way to do that is to forego health insurance? Tough. You have to pay $750 annually for the “privilege.” (Section 1501)

2. You are young and healthy and want to pay for insurance that reflects that status? Tough. You’ll have to pay for premiums that cover not only you, but also the guy who smokes three packs a day, drink a gallon of whiskey and eats chicken fat off the floor. That’s because insurance companies will no longer be able to underwrite on the basis of a person’s health status. (Section 2701).

3. You would like to pay less in premiums by buying insurance with lifetime or annual limits on coverage? Tough. Health insurers will no longer be able to offer such policies, even if that is what customers prefer. (Section 2711).

4. Think you’d like a policy that is cheaper because it doesn’t cover preventive care or requires cost-sharing for such care? Tough. Health insurers will no longer be able to offer policies that do not cover preventive services or offer them with cost-sharing, even if that’s what the customer wants. (Section 2712).

5. You are an employer and you would like to offer coverage that doesn’t allow your employers’ slacker children to stay on the policy until age 26? Tough. (Section 2714).

Body of Civil War soldier exhumed

Confederate officer to be reburied with military honors.

Body of Civil War soldier exhumed

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- It took nearly five hours of slow and painstaking digging Saturday before a group of archeologists and volunteers found the remains of Capt. Philip James Thurmond.
Thurmond, a Confederate solider in the Civil War, died on Oct. 26, 1864, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Winfield near the Putnam County Courthouse....

...The foundation and historical society have tentatively set the reburial date for Oct. 30.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has donated a marker for the new burial site, and Chapman Funeral Home will donate a casket and steel vault.

Several local organizations including the Sons and Daughters of Confederate Veterans and the local American Legion Post 187 have volunteered to take part in reburial services.
Regional Union and Confederate re-enactors have also volunteered to accompany the casket to its new burial site when the time comes.

RINOs Not Wanted: U.S. Senate Races Send A Warning to the GOP Establishment

The Republican Party of West Virginia needs to take note of this race next door.  Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Rand Paul (son of Presidential candidate and Congressman Ron Paul of Texas) is poised to win next door in Kentucky, with a 15-point lead on his republican opponent.  There is a warning to the GOP establishment and Republican Party in this:  return to Constitutional conservatism or perish!  

Republicans that support Big Government (including a Security State or militant wars for Democracy) are not in touch with "grass roots" conservative Americans, and are no longer wanted.  Note also that he does not come from one of the lead political families that so dominate state politics, as they they tend to in West Virginia as well.  (Note Sarah Palin is endorsing him, having a keen eye for personal political opportunity, even though she does not share his constitutional principles whatsoever).  The era of embedded incumbency or for the ruling elite establishment of the GOP, within states, is over.

The same is true with Republican Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth (a current Congressman) of Arizona who is also taking it to Senator and Presidential candidate John McCain.  Same story.  Note that Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin are both endorsing McCain over a real conservative!  This reveals their true colors, and that of the GOP establishment, who circle the wagons to protect each other instead of endorsing true conservative principles.  Listen to what Hayworth says about that here:

Will the GOP hearken to its real constituents who differ when offered a real alternative, instead of a mere R after their name?

UPDATE

NEO-conservative and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who is a member of the globalist and very unconservative Council of Foreign Relations (CFR, who also closely advised the Clinton and now Obama administration), has entered the fray in Kentucky to paint Rand Paul's opponent, Grayson, as "the real conservative".  

Cheney Steps to the Line in Kentucky

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has injected himself into Kentucky’s Senate contest, endorsing Republican hopeful Trey Grayson as “the real conservative in this race.”

Cheney, of course, has a provable record of lying publicly, although with great persuasive ability.  Just another example of how RINOs control the GOP establishment.  (See previous post on the Bush/Cheney fiscal record to see how the proverbial "pot calls the kettle black" on this issue).

Eco-Tyranny: Audi's Superbowl Commercial Spoofs "Green Police"

An example of the eco-tyranny coming?  The laws will not be so draconian in appearance of course, but still be just as binding on "free Americans".  This will be the New Morality of the religion of "Mother Earth" and "her rights" by force of law.

West Virginia Senate Bill Reasserts State's Rights vs. Federal Encroachments

From West Virginia Watchdog, great coverage on this excellent legislation linked below.

It is very important to note on this subject that the West Virginia Constitution has these leading articles, already very powerful (wisely embedded by Confederate-leaning legislators to prevent the tyranny of Federal Reconstruction and further Federal Despotism after the Civil War) which every Mountaineer should memorize and ought to be taught in school, that still draw a Constitutional line in the sand for the Federal government:

1-2.  Internal government and police.

     The government of the United States is a government of enumerated powers, and all powers not delegated to it, nor inhibited to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people thereof.  Among the powers so reserved to the states is the exclusive regulation of their own internal government and police; and it is the high and solemn duty of the several departments of government, created by this constitution, to guard and protect the people of this state from all [i.e. Federal] encroachments upon the rights so reserved. 

 1-3.  Continuity of constitutional operation.

     The provisions of the constitution of the United States, and of this state, are operative alike in a period of war as in time of peace, and any departure therefrom, or violation thereof, under the plea of necessity, or any other plea, is subversive of good government, and tends to anarchy and despotism.

The legislature and Governors thus far have ignored these provisions when establishing the federal REAL ID (national ID driver's licenses) and by not resisting the tyrannical and unpatriotic USA PATRIOT ACT (made illegal, however, by Huntington, West Virginia, on these very grounds) under the "plea of necessity" after the 9/11 "catalyzing event" and the cry of "terrorism".  The Constitution is to be upheld by the State government, per the Supreme Law of West Virginia, against all federal claims of "necessity", to protect West Virginians from federal usurpations of power.  The Governor and legislators and Supreme Court Judges all swear to "uphold" the State and Federal Constitutions upon taking office, while they clearly have not.

It was former Supreme Court Justice John Marshall who wrote:

A legislative act, contrary to the Constitution, is not law".

While this proposed Resolution would have been even more powerful during the post-9/11 Bush administrations (when republicans went stark blind to the Constitution--when a Tea Party was needed!) in expanding the usurping federal Security and Surveillance State, it is appropriate (although a bit partisan and bias) to invoke it now as the Obama Nanny State (i.e. Health Care, Economic and Environmental Reform) is erected, including an economic and environmental agenda that threatens to undermine West Virginia in particular.  Before Democrats cry "partisan bill" too loud, however, they should recall that even Senator Byrd warned that the Obama administration could be on a federal "power grab" of its own.  It must be added that our Congressional representatives in Washington on this have failed us (and violated their oaths), for they voted for the above legislation and fell for the "plea of necessity" (although Sen. Byrd recanted and voted against extending the USA PATRIOT ACT after seeing the light of the Constitution on it later).  Partisanship needs to drop to the floor and the Constitution should be reinstated as the non-partisan Supreme Law that it is on this matter.

The West Virginia Constitution requires and demands the Governor and State government defend West Virginia's sovereignty (resolution or not) but it should be applied impartially against all federal legislation that usurps State's rights.  Any governor or legislator that disagrees with the State Constitution or 10th Amendment on this principle of State Sovereignty vs. Federal Encroachments has lied upon taking their "oath" and is unfit for political office, period.  And it is the duty of the public to hold them all to it!

 "Mountaineers are always free" only if the state government obeys the State (and Federal) Constitutions impartially.

State Senate to Consider W.Va. Sovereignty Resolution

By Steven Allen Adams on February 8, 2010


A resolution that would declare West Virginia’s sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution was introduced yesterday in the State Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 would reassert that state’s sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution’s 1oth Amendment. From the resolution:

…Be it resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia: That the State of West Virginia reasserts sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and, be it
Further Resolved, That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerks of both houses forward a copy of this resolution to President Barack Obama and all members of West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation.

The 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The resolution is the brainchild of State Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, and is co-sponsored by the following State Senators: Clark Barnes, R-Randolph; Mike Hall, R-Putnam; Frank Deem, R-Wood; Don Caruth, R-Mercer; Dave Sypolt, R-Preston; Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson; Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier; and Robert Plymale, D-Wayne.
“What we’ve seen going on in Washington D.C. is a lot of the federal government reaching out and taking power away from the states or mandating to the states things they should not be mandating to the states,” explained Boley in a conversation with West Virginia Watchdog.

Obama Comes Clean on Coal With Capito and Republicans: To Be "Put Out of Business...Not Right Away"

Here in this MSNBC video where President Obama met with Republicans to square off in some debate (where he proves to be extraordinarily skilled at both recitation and rhetorical presentation of facts for debate purposes, without a script or teleprompter) he finally comes clean on his policy for coal.  This clip shows Rep. Capito questioning Obama on this issue important to all West Virginians and his response.  This should remove any doubts that in the long term Obama's goal is to "put the old [i.e. energy source--coal] out of business", just not "right away".  These are his words addressed directly to Capito's forthright question below (after mentioning he has met and enjoyed working with Governor Manchin, a "divide and conquer" strategy).  Note Obama ducks for water and prepares himself as if he knows the question coming.

The ambiguity is now removed.  The Obama administration wants coal phased out "in the long run".  Governor Manchin should mark this whenever he deals or meets again with the President or his EPA administration.  Senator Byrd has already alluded to this long term policy by pushing back West Virginians from making harsh criticism.  Is this why Obama never campaigned in West Virginia?  Will West Virginia be "phased out" as a major energy supplier "in the long run"?  This is what "change" is all about in the energy policy front, and here in West Virginia.  Now everyone knows for certain which way the "powers that be" are pushing.

It appears that Rep. Capito formed her Coal Caucus just in time, which just added Rep. Mollahan (D) to its ranks to form a defense against this aggressive (and rather Statist) policy to control energy industries for a Utopian global agenda.

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