SWAT team, state police were positioned near W. Va. church

[Lori Price CLG]

News Update from Citizens for Legitimate Government
04 January 2006
http://www.legitgov.org/
http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

SWAT team, state police were positioned near W. Va. church 04 Jan 2006 In a stunning and heartbreaking reversal, family members were told early Wednesday that 12 of 13 trapped coal miners were dead - three hours after they began celebrating news that they were alive... International Coal Group Chief Executive Officer Ben Hatfield blamed the wrong information on a "miscommunication.'' ..."There was no apology. There was no nothing. It was immediately out the door,'' said Nick Helms, son of miner Terry Helms. Chaos broke out in the church and a fight started. About a dozen state troopers and a SWAT team were positioned along the road near the church because police were concerned about violence. Witnesses said one man had to be wrestled to the ground when he lunged for mining officials. (The 'violence' is the violence that is perpetrated on workers in the U.S. (and all over the world) every day, due to the Bush regime's expansion of predatory capitalism.)

Lori Price

[Christa]

1. So they plan to shoot the mourners?

:cry:

[Lori Price CLG]

2. Bush's Iraq policy comes to West Virginia... n/t

[Christa]

3. Winning the hearts and minds here now. nt.

[daleo]

4. They would have been re-labeled as terrorists.

And the media would have went along.

Well, that's probably a bit too cynical.

[acmejack]

7. You think?

That is what they are for, to protect property, and by extension the property owners, from the unwashed (that's all the rest of us working slobs).

[RagingInMiami]

5. So how long did it take them to position the SWAT team and state cops

Before they decided to tell them the truth?

[Lori Price CLG]

6. Right, I think that was why they waited to tell the families the truth! n/

[RagingInMiami]

13. Well, it takes two hours to drive from Charleston to Tallmansville

Which is most likely where they were dispatched from.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. I'm sure that was the delay in releasing the information

They knew that the other report was wrong (they had to have known for some time!) and were afraid of how people would react to the truth. If they had to take out a few heartbroken mourners to save their own hides, meh, so be it.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Bingo, we have a winner

They knew within 20 minutes that the news the miners were found alive was wrong. Then they waited about 3 hours before they told the family members at the church. So I guess we can assume that is how long it took to assemble the police and the swat team. Nice of them to assume the worst about these poor people.

[myrna minx]

14. You nailed it.

:cry:

[HuffleClaw]

29. excellent point

that truly is just scary.

[DUgosh]

8. Our son was killed at the Texas State School for the Blind

This past May. We were called and told he choked on food. It took us 3 hours to get there and his body had already been taken by the coroners, we were greeted by the Austin PD armed "victims assitance team" and soon escorted off of the property.

[Christa]

10. Oh no - oh dear

((((((((((((((HUG)))))))))))))))))

[myrna minx]

15. I am so sorry about your son.

:hug:

[uppityperson]

16. I am so sorry.

[brentspeak]

20. My condolences

And I'm outraged that you were treated that way.

[DUgosh]

22. Big tears here again, my heart is breaking for those folks too.

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

[gademocrat7]

24. I am so sorry for your loss.

[Fridays Child]

9. There needs to be a labor revolution in this country.

[leftstreet]

12. That would be a "Human Resources" Revolution

x(
I hate that term. We need to start by getting rid of it.

[Fridays Child]

17. Second that!

[elehhhhna]

23. It's "Human Capital" nowadays. lol

[MnFats]

18. this is how they intend to treat all of us working stiffs...

...if you'll excuse the crude terminology...
....but even if not, get ready. you're seeing the wave of the future for workers rights, workplace safety and all the rest in Bush's vision of the future.

[NorthernSpy]

21. Of course! There was a precious, precious rich man on the premises...

Some people's lives and safety really do matter in this country.

Just not ours, y'know...

[rodeodance]

33. for instance---the Gov. of WV.

[newswolf56]

25. First Iraq, then New Orleans, now West Virginia:

In every instance, Bush as capitalism's ultimate achievement, put in office to resurrect its core essence of murderous greed elevated to a virtue -- to once again set free its blood-fanged Inner Tyrannosaur to savage all of us who are not part of the oligarchy.

(Yet there are still many people on DU who believe socialism is obsolete and Marx is "no longer relevant" -- that the historic truth of class struggle is but an illusion.)

That said, I am dreadfully sorry to hear of the losses reported on this thread. And the police-state treatment of the mourners (whether in West Virginia or Texas) is an outrage.

[newswolf56]

26. This needs to be voted up:

Let's please don't let it die.

[Lori Price CLG]

27. Thanks. It was originally on LBN, but got moved to this forum...

Not sure why.

Lori

[newswolf56]

28. Thank you for posting it.

These sorts of atrocities and the associated cover-ups need to be brought to the attention of DU as often as possible: the associated deaths have meaning only if they (finally) force the Democratic Party back to its New Deal roots. (And -- yes -- I consider the deaths of these miners as much atrocities as the deaths in New Orleans: the toll in both places due to genocide by neglect, genocide by negligence, genocide by greed or all these crimes in combination.)

[Lori Price CLG]

30. Thanks, newswolf56, and I agree. Bush has killed thousands of...

US citizens (excluding Iraq). For example, the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place on Bush's watch. The Bush regime was either (at 'best') criminally negligent or (at 'worst') complicit in carrying out the attacks.
Lori

[eridani]

38. Indeed.

Indifference is a weapon of mass destruction.--Dennis Kucinich

[rodeodance]

31. you are right on with your commentary!!

.....(The 'violence' is the violence that is perpetrated on workers in the U.S. (and all over the world) every day, due to the Bush regime's expansion of predatory capitalism.)

[Lori Price CLG]

34. Thank you so much, rodeodance! :) n/t

[Clara T]

32. Please post this in GD

so everyone can see the belly of the beast.

History matters. miming corps have been using spies, thugs, mercenaries, armed forces for years.

Spies for Hire: Advertising by the Pinkerton Agency

By the early 1890s, the 2,000 active agents and 30,000 reserves of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency were larger than the standing army of the United States. In the 1880s, the Pinkertons provided services for management in 70 different labor disputes. The agency’s success depended on both armed guards and the clandestine efforts of secret operatives like James McParlan, who had infiltrated Irish anthracite miners’ organizations in the mid 1870s. McParlan’s testimony (which historians have largely dismissed as fabricated) at the sensational “Molly Maguire” trial of 1876 helped send ten men to the gallows and broke the miners’ union for a generation. This advertisement from the 1890s touted the prowess of the Pinkerton detective agency in maintaining law and order and played on corporate fears of “dissatisfaction among the laboring classes” to build business.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5313/

[Lori Price CLG]

35. Ok, will do! (Don't know why it got moved from LBN) but I'll post in GD.

Thanks much,
:)-Lori

[Nikki Stone 1]

36. Recommended for Greatest page. (5th vote)

:kick:

[Lori Price CLG]

37. Thanks, Nikki! n/t

[Lori Price CLG]

39. Check out this email:

Email CLG received (no link) From: Mark Crispin Miller Date: January 4, 2006 Subject: From A Coal Miner's Daughter "Dear Liz: I am a coal miner's daughter. Our family farm was located 45 miles from the Sago Mine. This morning I called some friends of mine near Morgantown, W. VA... they say... there were repeated violations against this mine... they say there were over 260 violations... and the safety men (who had been cut back by the owners)... they are in the pocket and hired by the mine operator... The owner of the mine has a very sordid past...a real money over human life kinda guy. The miners who were outside, couldn't believe they didn't pump air down into the holes...that is what is always done...they didn't......why? They say they kept drilling holes but never put the air shafts down...when the families heard they were alive, they started celebrating...they waited for 3 hours to hear where their loved ones had been taken...and then 3 hours later were told they were all dead...MOST WENT HOME TO GET THEIR GUNS...THEY HAD ENOUGH...DON'T KNOW IF CENSORED TV WILL SHOW THIS OR TELL THAT STORY... BUT THEY INSIST ITS TRUE...AND KNOWING THESE FOLKS AS I DO...I ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE IT. I personally think the owner wanted to have 'some protection of his own before he told the truth'... he knew what would happen when they found out...This is a crime, this is an industrialized crime...and again, LAYS SQUARELY AT THE FEET OF THE BUSH REGIME...WHO HAVE LOWERED THE SAFETY STANDARDS DOWN TO NOTHING." (Note: Letter was edited for length, spelling - content not altered.)

Letter posted here:
http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

[Lori Price CLG]

40. Note on email:

The email was forwarded by Mark Crispin Miller, but was written by Liz Allen.

Lori Price