12 Miners / years ......17 Soldiers / 24 hours......You be the judge.

[spanone]

Balance in American mainstream news? I think not.

America, as I once knew her, no longer exists.

[onehandle]

1. Quiet! They're interviewing Natalee Holloway's 2nd Cousin's Cat.

Stop interrupting!

[stray cat]

2. Is it that Americans cared about the miners

but don't want to be reminded of the soldiers death's in Iraq? The news is a business and Americans to a large extent drive what is covered. I agree with your comparison but believe the bias goes much deeper than the media.

[Mika]

3. Who cares? What about the NFL wild card games? n/t

[pop goes the weasel]

4. Maybe some research first?

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/msha/MSHA2003003.htm
http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/980407/98040708.html
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/state/13505489.htm

A web site on mine safety, including quarries: http://mshahelp.com/mine-safety.cfm

There's a nice chart on a conservative blog that shows mining deaths over the past 10 years: http://www.bizzyblog.com/?p=1190

And then, remember, none of these statistics include deaths due to related health problems.

Have more soldiers died than miners? No duh. But any concern in the media over worker safety should be encouraged. People die regularly on the job because of inattention to safety standards. Most such deaths receive little national attention. Maybe there is a connection between the lack of attention to worker deaths and the neo-idiot response to soldier deaths that "they volunteered."