Fines don't stop the abusive corporate policies. That approach simply becomes part of the cost of doing business.

A better method is to give the corporate decision-makers long-term memberships in a special country club--like some place in North Dakota that's surrounded by razor wire.

You can't pass that along to the consumer.

Massey worked out long ago that the lives of dead miners are cheaper than the cost of suspended production. So, now it is clear - the US treats it's coal miners the same way China does. Globalization works! The ugly truth about coal is not only the mercury, acid rain, and ash residue. Coal has always contained blood, bones, lungs, and other assorted body parts, sacrificed by miners, on the altar of commerce. If the Obama administration is looking to create some jobs, how 'bout adding a few hundred mine inspectors? Care about keeping people safe? Close every mine operating under failed inspections. Put some real muscle into the inspection system. Force the coal industry to clean up the mining residues that threaten to burst out of their retention lakes. Governments have never been afraid to use troops and goons to break strikes; maybe now the government can start breaking mine operators like Blankenship. A good start would be rescinding Taft-Hartley, and giving unions the strength they need to boost membership and stand up to exploitation.

NATIONALIZE our natural resources . . .

That should have been done long ago --

."According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"

I agree with 'Fivecorners' comment. Fining corporations is a joke. Our regulatory agencies have no real power. Just look at what corporations are allowed to get away with ... if and when they are fined ... they either appeal or simply pay the fine as part and parcel of doing business and continue on without a hiccup.

Obviously, it is cheaper for corporations to violate laws and regulations and to appeal and/or pay fines and pay all the added costs(legal) than to follow the letter of the law or abide by regulations. Imagine that! They'd sooner pay than play by the rules! They'd rather pay than do the right thing!

Massey Energy violates human rights ... just as the biggest, big-box retailer does, e.g. lawsuit after lawsuit, pay out big bucks ... all just one of the costs of doing business ... and continue on abusing employees, laws and regulations ... until the next time ... and repeat.

Bad behaviour, unacceptable behaviour obviously pays off quite well for corporations. Or ... am I missing something here?

Every time scandalous revelations of industry practices are made public the process of massaging the story through media spin is begun by the same perpetrators who are responsible. They know the drill and roll with it knowing that they will always come out on top. The U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Given Americans insatiable appetite for fossil fuels, it seems no amount of scandals, fines, litigation, or regulations will knock them off the driver's seat.

I'll say it again. Corporations have the same rights as persons. Correct? Then they have have the right to face capital punishment. Correct? Capital punishment should include total forfeiture of all corporation property and long prison terms for high corporate officers. No one owning stock in such a corporation should get a dime for his or her or their stock

Jim Shea

Don Blankenship is the poster child of corporate arrogance. Since we're near where this happened in the Appalachian Coal Basin we get news on this morning, noon, and night.

Blankenship suggested that it was probably the miners themselves that caused the explosion. You can't argue with that - send miners into an unsafe mine with unacceptable levels of methane running all sorts of machinery and of course "the miners caused the explosion." The "man" needs strung up by his b***s.

This is only the latest from this scumbag that freely asserts that environmental resonsibility is a luxery that cannot be afforded to deliver "affordable" energy."

Massey had a contract to deliver metalurgical coal to the local coke plant here but failed to fulfill the contract because Blankenship decided to sell that coal during that performance period to the Chinese for a higher price. Lawsuit followed, Massey lost, was fined, but Blankenship keeps sliming his way through history. Every time political action is on the horizon to bring some environmental responsibility to this industry Massey places TV ads replete with waving American flags, saluting VFW members, and hate-filled diatribes against "environmental extremists."

I'll say it again; Blankenship needs strung up by his b***s. Bob Murry of Murry coal is no better. These guys continue the sorry heritage of arrogance, contempt, and iresponsibility of "Old King Coal." By the way, Massey is one of the chief operators conducting mountain top removal.

My Dad taught me about unions when I was a little girl. He organized the first white collar union CIO in Evansville, Ind.
I would like to see all the workers strike and see what the CEO would do. But without a union, they are scared to death of losing a job that will probably make them sick, or dead.
Blankenship looks like Hitler, only fatter.

I forgot something. I am living in retirement in Costa Rica, with a pension and health care from my late husbands work at General Motors. Don't tell me unions don't work.

If you think our two-party fairly corrupt governmental system is tough to change, try corporate culture...how can these gross abuses and insults against actual persons ever be stopped?

Soooo, join a union, any union, and vote Green. While we still have a vote.

THE HUMAN UNION---HU ARE YOU.
Membership---Everybody is already in it. Call your Chamber of Commerce to opt out.
Rejoin at any time.
Dues---Pay it forward with solidarity, common sense and good will.
Leadership---Apache nantan, talk it up, see what happens.
Tactics---Peaceful, Speaking Truth to Power, Resist, Occupy, Produce.
Goals---Fair pay, Fair play, Justice under the Law, Benefits to the Seventh Generation. No War.
One Planet, One People.
IF NOT NOW---WHEN?
CORP IS BORG.