West virginia mine explosion

undertheice said:

this is something that is conveniently left out of every argument for increased regulation, the expansion of government's responsibilities and the mob rule of true democracy. we want to be protected. we want poverty erased. we want the guilty punished and their victims' suffering eased. we want so many things and consider the strength of the state to be the best way to go about getting them. we forget that we are all guilty of something in someone else's eyes and that each bit of power we relinquish to others can be turned against us. how many times have we heard that the innocent have no need to fear the law or that it is the wealthy that should bear the lion's share of the cost of running the country? we forget that we all do things that someone else disagrees with and that they may very well decide should be illegal. we forget that there will always be someone with less than us and that they may decide to confiscate what little we have - for "the good of society".

government is the only entity that we consider trustworthy enough to use force to attain its ends, but we all admit it is flawed and corrupt. government is the only entity with the capacity to quell any insurrection through the use of violence, but we allow it to continue to "build the case" for the use of that violence. government is the only entity that can determine for itself how much of what you have can be confiscated and used for its own purposes, but we continue to demand that it be allowed an ever growing piece of the financial pie.

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doc111 said:

I have no idea what you are talking about so yes, perhaps I am stupid (or maybe just really baked).

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medicineman said:

Come on Doc, congress passes legislation (Law). 41 republican senators can filibuster any democratic legislation right out of existence, therefore, if Obama proposed any new mine regulations, it would languish in congress untill the dems got 61 votes, not too likely to happen any time soon. The new sheriff has been castrated by the party of NO. Without reconcilliation, Obama is a lame duck. I certainly hope the American people wake up to whom is really responsible for this lack of regulations, the republican party.

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DubsFan said:

In the same manner that a pure Democracy has flaws, pure Capitalism does as well. A pure Democracy can vote to do anything...anything with a simple majority. Pure Capitalism anything goes, buyer beware.

Capitalism has rules. I see people stuff BS into contracts all the time. Just because you sign the dotted line on a bad deal doesn't mean that the contract is "enforcable." These rules in our system are what keep it going.

There are very few that want pure capitalism. Those are usually pretty interesting folks. But I also think it's odd that there are some that think that this is how all Capitalists are.

With all tha being said, the UK has and still has much heavier regulation. Especially with regard to financial markets. Yet they still bought the same bad loan paper that triggered a melt down and their economy has suffered worse and is recovering slower. Yet we are to think that imposing these same regs here in the US will prevent something from happening?

Senseless rambling on my part here...

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undertheice said:

it takes the failure of the mine operator, state regulators and the representatives of the union mine workers for such a tragedy to happen. the union will merely point a finger at the owners, denying their duty to see to the safety of their dues paying members. the regulators will point to the violations and claim that their half-hearted attempts were all that was required of them. the mine's owners and operators will be vilified by a public that needs only one scapegoat to slake their thirst for vengeance. all three should be pilloried, but it is only the evil bosses that will always bear the blame. i have little sympathy for them in this, i only think that there are more villains here than will eventually be called to account.

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TheDemocrat said:

this is a non union mine.

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undertheice said:

yes, this is the third time that post has been corrected. if you'd bothered to read any of the intervening posts, you'd realize this and that i am already aware of my mistake.

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