VCR/DVR ALERT: After years of dormancy, ABC's Nightline becomes relevant again, ...

[Bozita]

... if only for one night.

Video and still pictures available at the link.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4582452&page=1

Coal Boss: If You Take Photos, 'You're Liable to Get Shot'
Don Blankenship Grabbed an ABC News Reporter's Camera During the Incident

By BRIAN ROSS and MADDY SAUER
April 3, 2008—

"If you're going to start taking pictures of me, you're liable to get shot," the chairman of one of the country's biggest coal mining companies, Don Blankenship of Massey Energy, told an ABC News reporter before grabbing the reporter's camera.

The incident this week, in the parking lot of a Massey Energy office in Belfry, Ky., is just the latest chapter in the saga of Blankenship's controversial relationship with the West Virginia Supreme Court, which is hearing appeals that could cost his company hundreds of millions of dollars.

Photographs recently emerged showing Blankenship vacationing on the French Riviera with the state Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard.

Earlier, Blankenship helped to raise $3.5 million for a television advertising campaign that led to the defeat of another Supreme Court justice.

Massey Energy has also moved to have another justice recuse himself from cases involving the company because of an alleged bias against Massey and Blankenship.

The parking lot incident took place as ABC News sought to ask Blankenship questions for a report to be broadcast Monday on ABC News' "World News With Charles Gibson" and "Nightline."

more...

[cureautismnow]

1. ABC News hit at least 2 out of the park tonight.

This incredible "are-you-freaking-kidding me?" story and the story about which candidates the soldiers in Iraq prefer. I nearly fell off the treadmill many times watching these shocking news reports from ABC. Kudos to ABC for knocking me over with a feather with their unreal candor. :applause:

[Bozita]

2. The Brian Ross report floored me. I was still posting soldiers/candidates story on LBN ...

... when it began.

Two shockers in one newscast? I thought for a moment I was watching the CBC or BBC.

[Bozita]

3. IFC tonight at 1:30am EDT: "Harlan County, USA" -- Essential to understanding coal mining

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
One of the best documentaries I've ever viewed..., December 11, 2001
By Rosemary Thornton "The Houses That Sears Built" (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Harlan County Usa (VHS Tape)
When I told the librarian I wanted to see a video on coal mining, she handed me "Harlan County." I looked at the date - which indicated that the coal miners' strike featured in the movie took place in the early 1970s and I handed it back to her saying, "No, I'm interested in something with more history in it."
A few days later, I felt impelled to return to the library and get this VHS. I sat down to watch it one morning and could not turn it off. It's compelling, intriguing, educational and emotional. I cried several times, watching the struggle and learning more and more about a coal miner's life.

For the last few months, I've been doing research (in preparation for a book on Sears Homes) about Standard Oil's coal mines in Macoupin County, Illinois in the 1920s. "Harlan County" showed archival footage and presented information that showed what a miner's life looked like - through the ages. Duke Power's coal mines in Harlan County, Kentucky were so backwards and Standard Oil's coal mines in Macoupin County, Illinois were so progressive, that I learned more than I ever expected about early 1900s mining techniques.

The story about the man and the mules is something I'll never ever forget. Or the miner's conversation with the New York policeman. Thank God for the director Ms. Koppel, who was inspired to create this documentary! And for her having the wisdom and foresight to record these old miners' reminiscences of life in the coal mines in the early years of the 20th Century.

Suddenly, all the puzzle pieces from my months of book reading and research came together when I saw these old films and heard the miners talk.

I'll be watching it again and again - with my family, too. And I hope every person who uses electricity in this country will watch it, too.

An interesting aside - in the 1920s in Macoupin County, Illinois, one coal miner died (on average) for every 279,000 tons of coal that was mined. Between 1900-1969, 100,000 miners died in this country. Standard Oil's mines (operated from 1918-1925) in Macoupin County may have been the safest mines in the country, but several men died in those mines, too.

In 1918, Standard Oil of Indiana built 192 Sears Modern Homes for their (mostly immigrant) miners in Macoupin County. (The term "Modern Homes" simply meant that the houses had kitchens, bathrooms, running water, central heat and electricity.)

In 1973, Duke Power's miners in Harlan County were still living in shacks with no running water.

Rose Thornton

[Bozita]

4. oops, forgot the link to the review ...

http://www.amazon.com/Harlan-County-U-S-Criterion-Collection/dp/B000E5LEVU