My family has been accounted for

[MichaelHarris]

While I still have friends who worked in the BP refinery it may be days before any names are released and know if they are safe. First and foremost I want to thank everyone at DU who offered me assistance and comfort getting news and offering to call loved ones, you guys did what the main stream media considered was a lesser story, you kept me informed while they focused on a story that impacts very few across the country.

Growing up in Texas City I'm no stranger to these types of events, what I am not used to is being 2500 miles from family and friends who will be affected by this. One of the first things to happen in events like this is the phone lines are jammed, it's up to the MSM to let the country know what is going on. Families and friends spread across this country with ties to Texas City should have been informed by the likes of CNN, MSNBC, and heaven forbid Fox, on this day they dropped that ball choosing to cover a story that impacts very few in our society. Men and women were dying, they feared for their lives and their loved ones and the media basically ignored it.

Texas City knows disaster, on the morning of 16 April 1947 Texas City lost over 500 of its citizens, some were never identified. http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html In the rush to fuel post-war America safety guidelines involving the handling of ammonium nitrate were ignored, people died. Why did the media choose to ignore todays story?

Could the national media have chosen to ignore todays disaster in fear that it would enrage environmentalist more against drilling ANWAR? This is the administration that tells us the petroleum industry is safe and clean after all. Are they afraid of a black eye? These are questions that viewers of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox should ask, why did we cover the case of a single woman in a vegetative state while Americans died? We really need to seek a change.

The two most important things I want to end with are first my warmest thanks to DU and it's support and a plea for blood donations, we never know where or when they are needed, one thing for certain Terri Schiavo doesn't need the blood.

[deadparrot]

1. I'm so happy for you.

I'm glad everything turned out okay for your family. May those who die RIP.

[MichaelHarris]

3. it's so weird

when this happens in Texas City, you can see the life drain from the peoples faces. So many people still have fears of 1947.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. I am glad to hear your family is ok

Hope everyone else in your life turns out to be alright. Thanks for the post..I missed your earlier thread

[MichaelHarris]

4. Thank you

I have so many friends that work in those refineries, I just found out that the unit was on a shutdown. That means alot of construction workers were in the area, the plant won't have records of those people. If the plant still uses union labor then it's a good thing, the union halls will know where their members are. If they were using non-union labor then it could be a mess.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I somehow missed that you had family involved in this.

I apologize for my oversight.

I'm very happy to hear that they are all OK and I'm hoping for the best for your friends also.

This was a horrible tragedy that didn't get the attention it should have in my opinion.

[MichaelHarris]

7. Thank you

I come from a long line of union construction workers and they are constantly in those plants. Organized Labor kept my family fed and guaranteed them fair wages as far back as I can remember, I am very proud of that.

Now we will see if bushes tort reform helps the families of those lost today because a refinery probably made a mistake.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. So glad your family is OK. Hope your friends do as well.

This is going to be a tough time down there. Prayers are with you and yours.

[MichaelHarris]

8. thank you for those kind words

I remember being a young iron worker living at home and my dad getting a call in the middle of the night. The grain elevators in Galveston had exploded and they needed ironworkers to lift the rubble and recover the bodies. My brother went out with my dad and found 3 people, one of his finds was just a foot in a shoe. Will backers of bushes tort reform think about that man's family when they offer up what's left of these families?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. ABC radio is now reportign the story

but this is what fifteen hours ,and oil has gone 54.65 a barrell

[MichaelHarris]

10. if someone

at the plant had a feeding tube it may have gotten better coverage.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. problem is what they have doen with Terri

they have transformed a private matter into an attack on the judiciary...

That is why the Schiavo case matters

Trust me before congress got involed it did not... but now it does

As to the plant, the stenographers are proving they have the attention span of gnats, they cannot cover more than one story at a time.

Here is the order a real news cast wuodl do this

Explosion in texas
Shiavo and constitutional concerns
Minesotta shooting
Gun Fire exchange and casuatlies in Iraq
(Notice Jacko is nowwhere in this list)

[MichaelHarris]

12. they don't want to cover the TC thing for 2 reasons

first it adds credibility to the fight to keep ANWAR clean and free of drilling and secondly tort reform. When BP is found negligent again will these families make it on what little will be offered to replace the bread winner of the family? Will the right be OK with, "To hell with that guys wife and family, she should have learned a trade. She doesn't need a big settlement" Companies make mistakes, people die and they should be held accountable for the survivors needs.

Both of these issues should covered by the MSM, instead it's Terri Schiavo all day and all night, a story that impacts very few.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. the terry story will impact yuo and me

If they can they will forbid living wills.. taht is how this will affect you. Up to Congress getting involved the case had no merit to be on the news. The moment they stepped in.. they oppened a gagle of Constitutional questions that WILL affect you and me.

As to BP, re-read what I wrote a REAL news network would cover it at the top of the news.. why it affects us... why well those plants are as well maintained as the San Juanico Plant in Mexico City (NOT) that is why you had an explosion... I could go on.

They would do Terri as a second story, not in the ghoulish manner they are donig, but asking... what are the Constitutional Consquences of Congress getting involved, and is this legal? (Which is not, you cannot write a bill for ONE PERSON... it is a no-no under the Constitition, so think of the precedent here)

they would also cover the story in Minessota and expose this kid for what he was, a NAZI

Oh and they would also tell us that there was a major shoot out in Baghdad today between brigands and shop keepers...

but we no longer have an independent thinking media...

Hmm ABC 14 dead over 100 injured, and they were fined twice over safety violations, and they are follownig the order I just wrote... but they are not covering the constitutional issues. Or maybe not, I am about to fall off my chair... Bill unconstititional..

[MichaelHarris]

14. I do see your point

I was more concerned how "breaking" news was handled today. This Terri Schiavo thing has been going on forever, you would have thought Americans dying right now was a little bit more important with the MSM.

[undergroundpanther]

15. Bush's

priorities are for more domination over our lives by any means,stoking hysteria gets people to give up their rights.
That said reporting the tragic events in Teas is NOT in Bush's interests,they'd rather downplay that.

Bush's priorities are not like ours they are not sane or humane or rational. Bush and most of our government including alot of the Dems have no conscience.

These sick little creatures with huge egos and no hearts we have infecting our government will not stop trying to get more control,until they control every living thing and every resource on this planet.They are sociopaths and the dream of all sociopath is to dominate everything win the big game and make people jump at their command..