does the mining cave-in count as the weekly disaster?

[radfringe]

It happened on Monday, as opposed to a Wednesday... and I'm not trying to snarky here and make light of these things... just concerned because today is Wednesday.....

WEDNESDAY July 18th - Steam pipe explosion in New York.
WEDNESDAY July 25th - Gas tank explosion in Dallas.
WEDNESDAY Aug 1st - Bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

[sam sarrha]

1. yea.. if it covers up the F'n disaster in Iraq for at least 3 days

[bananas]

2. Here's the original thread from last week

for anyone who doesn't know what you're talking about: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1497134

[krispos42]

3. No, one is due today sometime

The mine collapse was just a bonus. God had a coupon, you see. An oil tanker will ground itself in Long Beach today. Or maybe an airliner will have a wheels-up landing in Tulsa.

[chknltl]

4. Mining Disaster Concerns:

The Coal Mine Owner, a great supporter of the bush regime and known despiser of all things Progressive,(according to Mike Malloy), has gotten a report from those who monitor earthquakes, that the mine disaster was set off by a "NEARBY" earthquake and that aftershocks are hampering the "RESCUE" operation. Perhaps this is so...on the other-hand my bullshit alarm was going off when I heard him live this morning discussing this. This is the same alarm I get when a repug starts talking on TV. Now I am not familiar with the frequency of earthquakes in that part of Utah but I confess that this is the first 4.0-plus earthquake I have heard of in the continental US in a long while that is unassociated with the Pacific Rim. I suspect there have been a few...but I guess they haven't hit my radar and UTAH of all places! Can anyone confirm what the history of earthquakes are in the vicinity? (What I am suggesting is that the mine owner has much more than a small vested interest in squelching any reports that the bump caused by this major cave in is what set off those earth quake those monitors)

Secondly I have also heard on the Mike Malloy show that there may be a couple of um....Mexican Citizens trapped in that cave in! Well if true, I think the mine owner may be wanting to keep this out of the news too!

This owner strikes me as a good ol' boy, the kind who might have some political muscle and perhaps enough to have gotten a phony earthquake report manufactured by a legitimate government agency, albeit one with a bush crony in charge!

Do I have ANYTHING to go on here? No, not really, except early news reports of the mining practice in use there is questionable and very well could have led to this disaster AND that the cave in COULD have easily caused an earthquake of similar magnitude. Also he claimed that HIS mine was the model of safety, only as he was uttering those words someone at CNN was posting the text regarding the mines very safety history and it greatly conflicted what the owner was saying! No I have no more than this and a strong gut feeling...Oh and my repuke bullshit alarm which got set off by this very owner calling for the news to leave, to also leave folks associated with the mine alone and that ALL questions needed to go through him! Something smells fishy here...well to me at any rate.

PS: (unrelated but germain), I am off to bed and my computer is failing. I am crossing my fingers that someone will respond to my post here and I'll be able to respond back tomorrow. Right now, I am unable to even check out other DU posts or threads on this topic as my computer is going through one of its periodic freeze up spasms every time I try to scroll through a post. (The phenomenon is particularly bad right now forcing me to shut down!) I am not even sure if this be my last ever post with this computer...we will see tomorrow. Thanks

[malaise]

6. That is not true

USGS says the mine collapse triggered the quake

[chknltl]

7. Yes That is what I first heard from CNN

Then the next morning, the mine owner held a press confrence in which he had the "newest data" from the USGS which claimed the earthquake was located quite a bit away. I do not recall the numbers but I believe within a mile and many thousands of meters deeper. Also in this "newest data" was a time signature for the earthquake. That time signature indicated that the quake lasted longer than the "bump" that a cave in type earthquake signature would have had. The owner was very adamant that the earlier reports of the mine collapse being the reason for the earthquake was a false one and that the data he had, (and he shook the paper at the camera), from the USGS was the proof that a natural earthquake had caused the cave in.

I have not heard any real updates that refute what the mine owner has stated... Frankly I expected USGS or someone to have come out and exposed the mine owner as perpetrating fraud in that press confrence. I have not heard that, (yet), and I had hoped that someone here in DU might have seen this guy busted in some way for his assertions. The fact that I still see him giving updates to the press is somewhat alarming to me in that from what I have seen of this guy, I think he is trying to cover his ass. If he actually has in his possession some kind of documentation from the USGS to back up his claims, the claims he made in his first press confrence, then I further suspect he has somehow managed to find a "friend" over in USGS. On the other hand, perhaps he was just filling us full of BS about having any legitimate info from the USGS...

My belief, I am going with the origional CNN report which says that the cave-in caused the earthquake regestration, the one which USGS recorded and reported to CNN. I further believe that this mine owner is full of BS. It is my hopes that he gets busted for his BS or just comes out and admits that he falsafied data in his first press confrence. Allarmingly, he was recently claiming that "aftershocks" are hampering the rescue attempts! I suppose the aftershocks could be from further mine collapses but I think he is still trying to suggest that this was a natural earthquake and these are natural aftershocks. Frankly I am even dubious that those "aftershocks" even exist.

I do not mind saying that from what I have seen of this mine owner on CNN, I strongly suspect he is a right wing nut bastard who is covering his ass at the expense of others. I am hoping someone here in DU has seen this too and has seen further data relating to this. Perhaps I should contact CNN and ask them what is up.

[malaise]

5. Does this one count?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6936755.stm
<snip>
US raid kills 30 Iraq 'militants'
US and Iraqi forces say they have killed 30 militants in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

They said most had died in an air strike following a raid in the Shia district of Sadr City. Twelve people were also detained in the operation.

The US military alleged the dead were part of a network that smuggles weapons from Iran.

AFP news agency quoted a witness as saying women and children were among those killed in the air strike.