The question needs to be asked.   This women is not without means.   She is also the former wife of a Republican.    She is not friendly to Democrats in DC in the least.   Granted bashing Democrats in DC these days is like shooting fish in a barrel. It is popular sport.   But what are her motives?   How committed to Democrats is she?  How committed to Republicans? 

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Earlier this week, it was saddening and unfortunate to hear of two deaths in a Kentucky coal mine operation.  Two men were found dead in the Dotki Mine, in Hopkins Co, Kentucky. The mine is associated with Alliance Resources and is, yet again, a non-union operating mine.  Tragedy struck when the roof of a portion of the mine collapsed. 

The mine was reported to have had a large fire that caused a lot of damage back in 2004.  

Some may not recall that the Dotiki Mine was the scene of a major fire on Feb. 11, 2004. The blaze caused no injuries, but it took several days to extinguish the fire and several weeks to restore the mine. The effort also demanded considerable resources from MSHA.

source:  MSHA Staffer Kathy Snyder

The rise in mining related deaths in the recent month has prompted President Obama and his administration to take a deeper look at the MSHA organization and increasing mine safety in the U.S.

The Bush Administration did a poor job in improving MSHA and mine safety throughout the country.  Elain Chao, coincidentally Sen. Mitch McConnell's wife, was Secretary of Labor under Bush.

Once Elaine Chao, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell's wife, became Secretary of Labor, which oversees the MSHA, she, according to Jack Spadaro, an MSHA engineer investigating the spill, put on the brakes. Two years later, Massey was assessed a slap-on-the-wrist $5,600 fine. The same year, Massey's PAC donated $100,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which was chaired by McConnell. And Massey's CEO Don Blankenship has personally donated millions to the campaigns of judges and politicians.

Courtesy of Arianna Huffington

Conflict of interest much?  I Shall let you draw your own conclusions.

Here is President Obama's statement after the Kentucky mine tragedy

I am deeply saddened by the loss of two miners in Kentucky, and my thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones they left behind. As I said after the tragedy in West Virginia, I refuse to accept any number of miner deaths as simply the cost of mining. It is the responsibility of all of us, from mine operators to the federal government, to prevent such tragedies from happening again. That is why my administration is taking steps to demand accountability for safety violations and strengthen mine safety so that all of our miners are protected.

Thanks to the Charleston Gazette, and everyone at Coal Tattoo, for the ongoing news and coverage of anything mine related in Appalachia.

Another source of information from Coal Tattoo is in regard to Massey Energy.  A federal criminal probe is currently underway after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster earlier in April that killed 29 miners in Raleigh County West Virginia.  

A federal law enforcement official says the FBI has interviewed nearly two dozen current and former employees of Massey Energy in a criminal probe of the West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 men.The official says in the interviews over recent days the FBI has been looking for any evidence that the company engaged in criminal negligence.

Several other sources, besides this report from AP, are also commenting on the investigation including Reuters and NPR.  NPR aired news that there is an investigation going on involving bribery of federal MSHA officials, but according to sources at Coal Tattoo this is wrong/has not been confirmed. 

More updates to come I'm sure.

If you're looking for an early bet for the top story of 2010, bet on the story being the Internet Revolution, because after years and years of anticipation and progress, the next two to three years are when we are going to see the Internet become what we all thought it would be.

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On This Week this morning, George Will tried to advance Village conservative orthodoxy from "the New Deal didn't work" to the idea that Obama's cabinet signals an abandonment of the progressive movement. While sure there is some skepticism of some of Obama's cabinet selections on the left, the fact is that, as Arianna Huffington made clear in response of George Will, this idea that governing as a "centrist" and governing as a progressive are mutually exclusive is actually rather antiquated.

This is so untrue. Just watch or listen to Obama's radio address yesterday. That was a very very profoundly different plan for this country than we've heard for a long time. I  mean these were massive public investments. This was not a small government small deficit plan. And so the idea that we're living in a center-right country is refuted by all the facts. The center has shifted. What used to be progressive positions on global warming, on Iraq, on corporate responsibility, on health care are now solidly mainstream. We are still a divided country but it is two-thirds one-third, it is no longer fifty-fifty.

As Markos said after Obama gave in on FISA: if only he had run to the center, then he would have been where we are.

Watch Obama's weekly address below:

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Arianna Huffington is moderating a panel on old vs. new media featuring Digby, Chris Cilizza, Jonathan Alter, and Greg Maffei (CEO of Liberty Media.)

It's part of the Starz Green Room here in Denver, just up the street from The Pepsi Center. The panel is streaming live HERE.

Update [2008-8-25 14:17:9 by Todd Beeton]:Arianna is driving the conversation to explore a really important question: the original purpose of journalism was to ferret out the truth yet so often now journalists feel the need to "present both sides", truth be damned.

Jonathan Alter concurs: "A phony sense of balance. Sometimes there aren't two sides to a story." When discussing the negativity of the McCain and Obama campaigns, Alter made an interesting point: "They're both being negative but they're not being negative in the same way. Obama's had 2 ads that stretch the truth, McCain's had like 10. How do we convey that without seeming biased?"

Digby jumped in to address the the loss of credibility and revenue among the traditional press: "The reason that the press lost credibility is that they lost credibility...For years we've gone through these events that the press cheerled the way through. The impeachment of Bill Clinton, the 2000 election and the Iraq war. We were sold a list of goods and the press helped sell it."

That was the one moment of applause during the panel. Jonathan Alter is getting very defensive about the criticism of the "mainstream" media.

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