My mom’s from that area. My mother’s dad was a coal miner and so was her brother; both died with Black Lung. So the stories about the lost miners are especially heart-wrenching to me.

My grandparents were Democrats and I can clearly remember the JFK color photo that hung in their hallway. I was raised in a household that embraced the Democratic principles and I was appalled during the last election when my mom’s sister declared she wouldn’t vote for Obama “or any black man”. Yikes. That flew in the face of all I had been taught as a member of that family.

I can’t understand why the state of West Virginia hates him, unless it’s racial. He’s probably the best thing to happen to them in ten years, but they don’t like him. Even Lester Holt on the evening news said he isn’t liked there.

I’m glad they gave him a warm reception. I hope he’ll be able to gain some ground there during his term. They need him.

Thanks, KK. You beat me to the best clip, and I’m grateful. This needs to be out there.

I was reading the liveblog of the service on a well-known hatriot site, where the commenters were convinced that Obama was being an intrusive, self-absorbed, photo-op-seeker who would be despised and rejected by the mining families—until they all cheered and applauded.

My headline: “Kenyan Usurper Embraced, Cheered, Applauded at WV Miners’ Memorial Service.”

Eat shit, haters. The man did what Presidents are supposed to do.

Also, there’s a wicked double-meaning in your headline which, if you intended it, will force me to marry you.

I was reading the liveblog of the service on a well-known hatriot site, where the commenters were convinced that Obama was being an intrusive, self-absorbed, photo-op-seeker who would be despised and rejected by the mining families—until they all cheered and applauded.

Okay, where was that? I love watching air leak out of balloons.

Also, there’s a wicked double-meaning in your headline which, if you intended it, will force me to marry you.

Sorry, not intended, but I’ll still marry you. Your headline is much better. I was awkwardly just trying to cram as many Google-friendly keywords into it as possible.

My cousin was Joshua S. Napper, one of the 29 coal miners we lost during this horrible tragedy. I want to thank our president in honoring these hero’s and taking the time to show our country how special these 29 men are.

Thank you, Kristen, and sincerest condolences. I live in Pennsylvania, on top of a hollowed-out coal mountain, and people here share your grief…and your pride. Anyone who works the mines is a hero in my book.

Kristen,

I’m very sorry about your loss.

I thought everyone involved today did a wonderful job of honoring your cousin and the other 28 men.

Please accept my condolences and best to your family.

KK, go here to be thoroughly embarrassed by (and for) your fellow Americans. It ain’t pretty.

Wow, it takes a lot to shock me these days, but that definitely did. I only made it through a couple of pages. You’ve got some serious hate-on if you can write stuff like that about a memorial service.

How do people go through life like that without having constant heart attacks?

KK, it’s just par for the course over there. They see what they want to see, they make up their own facts, and they are consistently rebuked by reality.

As far as I’m concerned, if Obama dishonored this memorial by delivering the eulogy, then Reagan desecrated the sacrifices at Normandy by attending the 40th anniversary commemoration of the invasion. At least Obama didn’t make a side-trip to lay a wreath at the graves of the Waffen SS.

PS: Obama has never said he wanted to shut down the coal industry, which would be economic insanity and national suicide. He is, however , a proponent of financial incentives that would make “clean-coal” alternatives such as gasification more attractive. There’s a big difference, although it escapes the average Freeper.

PPS: It’s state-level regulations—not Federal emissions mandates—that are killing many coal-fired industrial and power generation projects in the womb. Plus, American oil companies are totally down with coal gasification, since captured CO2 is the cheapest source of the huge quantities of non-reactive injection gas needed to blast the last drops of crude out of our mostly declining or depleted on-land fields. Freepers who think Bakken or ANWR are the keys to America’s energy future are living in CloudCuckooLand.

Let’s have a warm Rumproast welcome for the racist chumps who are visiting from American Thinker. Be polite, be considerate, and try to understand that the Neanderthal Flag-Fucker forebrain is wired for competitive Bingo-play, rather than heavy abstract conceptual work—your basic rock-banger.

Kristin, I am very sorry; these deaths shouldn’t have happened. 

One maddening thing about these deaths is that they happened because (1) the owner of this and many other coal mines greased a LOT of rethug palms to get MSHA defanged, and (2) tossed each newly issued federal safety violation into a pile marked “ignore until further notice”. 

In the Bush drive to deregulate everything, vital agencies like the one that enforces mine safety laws were one of the many to be neutered.  The end result is lax standards on the part of the mine management, combined with local populations that have no other choices for a decent paying job; I wonder when they were going to try to reintroduce paying in scrip and allowing only company stores in the towns.