Bump

The owner of the Utah coal mine where miners are trapped says it was caused by an earthquake, while the seismologists are not sure.

Murray also angrily rounded on reports on Monday that suggested the mine collapse had been mistakenly recorded as an earthquake.

"This was caused by an earthquake," he said. "It was a natural disaster, an earthquake, and I can prove it."

He said the US Geological Survey had recorded the 4.0 magnitude quake as striking at a depth far greater than the location of the mine.

It could be that rare even known in coal mining as the bump which occurred almost fifty years ago in Springhill, Nova Scotia.

The 1958 Bump which occurred on October 23, 1958 was the most severe "bump", or underground earthquake, in North American mining history and devastated the people of Springhill with the casualties it took, and devastated the town: the mines had been the town's economic lifeblood, and were never reopened following the disaster.

It is not exactly known what causes a "bump." However it is believed that it could be caused when coal is totally removed from a stratum and the resulting geological stresses upon surrounding bedrock (shale, sandstone, etc. in most coal-bearing strata) can cause the surrounding pillars of the galleries to suddenly and catastrophically disintegrate, causing the shaft to collapse.

SEE:

Fox Guarding Hen House

Coal Mine Disaster No Accident

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Beast

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Harper says cabinet shuffle could precede resumption  of Parliament




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Ouch

Fair is fair, I have been trashing the Conservatives today so lets take a look at how Dion's Liberals have been fairing according to Nik Nanos of SES polling;

According to the SES Research tracking, the 10-point Tory lead in May 2006 melted away to a statistical tie on the eve of the Liberal leadership.

Indeed, by the spring of 2007, they had been so successful that Dion trailed Harper by a resounding 25 points on the best prime minister measure.

Of greater concern for the Grits is that, in his home province of Quebec, Dion trailed Harper by 33 points with only 10% of Quebecers giving the nod to their native son.

How bad was it? When the Liberal leader trails an Albertan Tory, a Toronto NDPer and a separatist on the best PM measure -- it has to be pretty grim.

Ouch.



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Layton and May Winners

Ms. Joe Clark

Waiting For Dion

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WSJ

It's a rare occasion when I agree with Margret Wente. But her comment on the Rupert Murdoch's takeover of the Wall Street Journal hits the nail on the head.

Inside the Journal, you can cut the fear and loathing with a knife. The champions of unfettered capitalism are terrified that somebody is actually practising it on them.

Of course she is not the only one to note the irony of the whining of the WSJ staff and their media sycophants.

All of which means that in an ideal world, the Bancrofts wouldn't let Murdoch within a mile of the Journal. But this is hardly an ideal world, as far as the newspaper business is concerned. I'm not one of the doomsayers who see The End of Newspapers As We Know Them lurking around the next corner, but it doesn't take a genius to see that our industry is in the midst of some of that good old "creative destruction" that the Journal's editorial page regularly praises as the engine of capitalism.

The pro capitalist journalists at the WSJ, purveyors of the American Dream are afraid their will lose their journalistic integrity under Murdoch. Please gimme a break. What do they think that Murdoch will put Bill O'Riley on the editorial board?

And while folks have focused on the WSJ, the Dow Jones publishing company owns other papers which may not share the same fate as the august voice of capitalism. And there are concerns raised about media concentration, in other words good old monopoly capitalism in action.

And before the signatures are dry on Murdoch's purchase of the WSJ there are questions about those in charge of maintaining the journals much lauded editorial independence.

Wall Street Journal watchdog member has Murdoch links

Yep business as usual.



See:

Liberal Or liberal Media

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Ban Me Too

Funny that the Federal Department of Agriculture is banning progressive bloggers, while a staff member at the Alberta Government Department of Agriculture was caught emailing nasty "you're all commie pinkos" comments to the Canadian Wheat Board.

Of course progressive bloggers have been defending the Wheat Board, and we wouldn't want our blogs subverting federal civil servants.




SEE:

Slap Upside The Head

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Productivity and Wages

As we know productivity, the bugaboo of the capitalist class, has no relationship to wages. Call it Marxism 101.

Since 2001, middle-class Americans have seen their pay drop by 4 percent, although labor productivity went up by 15 percent during the same period.

SEE:

$63.90 Per Hour

The End Of The Leisure Society

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Petulant Child

Harper throws a temper tantrum, stamps his feet and pouts;

Harper vows to end CWB monopoly

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Slap Upside The Head

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Women And Children First

The reason for this

Journalists booted from Tory retreat

was this;

National caucus chairman Rahim Jaffer defended the action, saying that spouses and children accompanying many of the 125 MPs and 24 senators may be intimidated by the reporters and cameras.

Then don't get into politics.

Political wives and political children whining, gimme a break.

This gives new meaning to Trophy wives. And now we can add Trophy Children to the mix.



"Look Out Dad, there is a journalist."


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Can't Get No Respect

LOL

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LOL III

If a tree falls in the forest.....

"I think there's definitely been a will inside caucus to explore the tax-cutting side. I think that's something we've been discussing, especially leading into this summer caucus," said Rahim Jaffer, chair of the parliamentary caucus.

"I know the minister of finance was particularly interested to hear what caucus was thinking on those particular issues ..." he told reporters.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was not at the meeting.

If he was so interested why wasn't he there?

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Can't Get No Respect

Conservatives New Nanny State

Canadian Values

Tax Cut Fetish

Flaherty



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Surge Blackout

With bad news like this;

An Iraqi power plant rebuilt with tens of millions of U.S. dollars fell into disrepair once transferred to the Baghdad government, according to the U.S. office that tracks reconstruction spending.

The Iraqis' failure to maintain the 320-megawatt Dora plant, considered an important source of power for electricity-starved Baghdad, is just one of the issues hindering attempts to rebuild the country, the latest audit report to Congress concludes.

The U.S. Government has decided to do this; US drops Baghdad electricity reports

While the Iraqi government points fingers elsewhere.Iraq Electricity Ministry blames provinces

This proves George Bush was right the U.S. is not capable of nation building. Or even maintaining infrastructure in Iraq or at home.

The Bush administration has shown little progress - and in some cases backtracked - on its pledge to do a better job in awarding contracts to small, Gulf Coast businesses for Hurricane Katrina work, a congressional analysis shows.

The review of federal contracts from five government agencies, conducted by the House Small Business Committee, is the latest to document missteps in the award of billions of dollars of lucrative government work since the 2005 storm.

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What He Didn't Say

Iraq; The War For Oil

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