wv: miners vs nra, dupont appeals, eminent domain & santa

miners union slams nra over film crew
from examiner: The United Mine Workers of America is crying foul over what it says was an attempt to get miners to badmouth Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for a camera crew. UMWA President Cecil Roberts plans to hold a news conference in Charleston at 12 p.m. Monday with miners from Consol Energy's Blacksville No. 2 mine in Monongalia County to criticize the National Rifle Association. Roberts says the NRA hired a film crew to get miners to criticize Obama's record on gun rights. NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said Monday the crew was on the property with the mine's permission and had no troubles with the miners it interviewed. The NRA is sharply critical of Obama, calling him a "lying rabble rouser" on its Web site. The UMWA has endorsed Obama.

umw plans work stoppage over nra filming

despite campaign denials, mccain supports ‘the elimination of mountaintop removal mining’
from thinkprogress: Wonk Room broke the story that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining, a process in which “coal operators blast off hilltops to uncover valuable low-sulfur coal. Leftover rock and dirt is shoved into nearby valleys, burying streams.” In response to a question at a town hall meeting in Orlando, Florida whether he supported ending mountaintop removal, McCain said, “I do.” Watch it:

When the Charleston Gazette pursued the story with the McCain campaign, they “initially denied that the candidate favored an end to mountaintop removal, but backed off that when confronted with video of his remarks”: "Initially, McCain spokeswoman Gail Gitcho repeatedly said the candidate did not support a ban on mountaintop removal. But when video of his remarks in Orlando was posted on YouTube, Gitcho confirmed McCain’s support for ending the practice and issued a short statement." More at the Wonk Room on McCain’s lobbyist ties and incoherent defense of coal companies.

residents win over power company eminent domain threats
from ap: Allegheny Energy Inc., bowing to intense community opposition in southwestern Pennsylvania, has agreed to reroute a proposed multistate high-power line and move its end point so that only one mile of it passes through the state. The 500-kilovolt transmission line was to originate in Washington County, continue for 37 miles in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania and then cross into West Virginia on its way to Loudoun County, Va. The company has agreed to move the end point to the southern end of Greene County, about one mile from the West Virginia border, said Pam Snyder, the chairwoman of the Greene County Commissioners. In return, the county won't oppose the project, Snyder said Monday.

wv court accepts appeals in $400m dupont case
from ap: West Virginia's Supreme Court has agreed to a full review of appeals arising from a nearly $400 million judgment against DuPont. A Harrison County jury awarded the damages to residents last year, after finding the chemical giant downplayed and lied about health threats at a former zinc smelting plant in Spelter. The high court accepted DuPont's appeal of the verdicts, and of the circuit judge's order holding it liable for the conduct of the site's previous owner. They've been combined with an appeal from the plaintiffs, who want more people compensated for private property cleanups. The consolidated argument hearing has not been set. Justice Robin Davis voted to refuse each of the appeals. Gov. Joe Manchin had urged the justices to accept the case, citing its $196 million punitive damage award.

feds blame tank & training in fatal wv blast
from ap: Federal inspectors are blaming a fatal explosion at a West Virginia convenience store in part on a propane tank being located too close to the building. The blast in January 2007 killed four people and injured six. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board also found there was too little training for propane company technicians and for emergency crews. The board's preliminary report (1.7mb PDF) said the 500-gallon propane tank was located next to the back wall of the store in violation of a 10-foot rule. The escaping gas filled the Flat Top Little General store in the town of Ghent before exploding. The report recommends that emergency responders receive better training on how to handle propane leaks and that the state adopt training standards for propane handlers.

wv write-in candidates include santa claus
from ap: Yes, West Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he's running for president. This jolly old elf, though, doesn't live at the North Pole but near Lake Tahoe, and was known as Thomas O'Connor until 2005, when his resemblance to Father Christmas helped persuade him to legally change his name.

Claus is one of 14 write-in presidential candidates registered with the West Virginia secretary of state's office, a veritable bumper crop thanks to the state's easy registration rules. "All they have to do is file a form at least 42 days before the election," said Jason Williams, manager of the elections division in the secretary of state's office. "Santa Claus filed his form and it was notarized, so he's registered along with everyone else."

"Everyone else" in West Virginia includes Keith Russell David, currently an inmate at Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, and Pennsylvania resident Ron Hobbs, whose platform includes requiring all public businesses to have restrooms. All told, there are 25 write-in candidates for statewide or congressional office in West Virginia this year. Their names won't appear on the official ballot, but votes for them will be tallied, while writing in an unregistered name will mean an uncounted vote.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many write-in candidates in a presidential election," said Kanawha County Circuit Clerk Vera McCormick, whose workers will count every write-in ballot on election night by hand. That kind of joyous plurality isn't available to voters everywhere. Most states put a number of hurdles before write-in candidates, ranging from requiring dozens of forms to identifying presidential electors for the candidate.

nra mole, e-passports, vp lieberman, nwo & dc madam

nra silent on alleged gun-control mole

from kprc: A Democratic U.S. senator demanded Thursday that the National Rifle Association respond to charges it placed a paid spy in rival gun-control organizations for more than a decade. The powerful firearms lobby has remained silent since reports broke last week that gun-control activist Mary McFate, 62, of Sarasota, Fla., was allegedly snooping on several of the nonviolence groups for the NRA. Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey asked the NRA to confirm or deny the charge; reveal what she was paid, if anything; disclose the names of any other informants in the gun-control movement; and put a stop to the practice.


e-passports signed, sealed, delivered - but not like you may think
from threat level: Two years ago security researcher Lukas Grunwald showed how the chips in new electronic passports could easily be cloned Grunwald's attack, however, was limited in that he hadn't found a way to alter data on the tag in a manner that could not be detected. Data on passport chips is hashed and digitally signed by the issuing country. Changing data on the passport chip would change the hash, indicating that the chip had been manipulated and thus invalidating it. Dutch security researcher Jeroen van Beek, from the University of Amsterdam, recently made headlines when The Times in London reported that he could get a "cloned and manipulated" passport chip to be recognized as legitimate by passport reader.

surprise! lieberman reportedly on mccain’s vp ‘short-list’
from thinkprogress: The Financial Times reports that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign is vetting Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) as a potential vice presidential running mate. One adviser said, “[McCain] loves Lieberman. And he is on the [short-]list because Lieberman has never embarrassed anyone, never misspoken. The first rule is, don’t take someone who costs you votes.” The adviser also added, however, that many conservatives “would be pissed as hell.” Lieberman will also likely attend the GOP convention and may be speaking there.

new world order out of chaos: the coming economic depression
from they live 2012: Are we facing Financial Armageddeon? I can't say I've ever lived through a Depression, but it sure looks like I will be in the near future, and it doesn't look like some major event is going to be avoided, and as always, the perpetrators will be the saviours once again, bringing the world under a more centralized framework, and thus begins the cashless society and the end of the middle class in the west, and hello to Socialism on a grand scale.


attorney: dc madam left instructions if 'ever found dead of apparent suicide'
from legitgov: Attorney: "Jeane was very clear with me that if she was ever found dead of an apparent suicide, I was to make sure that all the evidence was publicly disseminated so that it could be independently evaluated." Exclusive: Citizens For Legitimate Government has learned that Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley, has intervened to stop a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Tarpon Springs, Florida, Police Department from releasing information requested by Sibley pertaining to the investigation of Jeane’s death.

pnac, un, nra, ocp, at&t, apra & bg

pnac site goes down
from thinkprogress: Eleven years ago, the neoconservative Project for a New American Century (PNAC) set out its statement of principles advocating the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, putting the country on the road to a preventative invasion of Iraq. Signatories included future Iraq war architects Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliott Abrams, as well as neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan... But just as the neocons are attempting to run from responsibility for the Iraq war, it appears PNAC may be abandoning its own website.

un racism investigator to visit US
from reuters: A special U.N. human rights investigator will visit the United States this month to probe racism, an issue that has forced its way into the race to secure the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. The United Nations said Doudou Diene would meet federal and local officials, as well as lawmakers and judicial authorities during the May 19-June 6 visit. "The special rapporteur will...gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," a U.N. statement said on Friday.

huckabee jokes about obama ducking gunman
from cnn: During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee - who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain - joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.


1-child policy decimates china after quake
from wufu: After their daughter was born, Bi Kaiwei and his wife, Meilin, decided to adhere to China's one-child policy and its slogan, "Have fewer kids, live better lives." For them and other couples who lost an only child in this week's massive earthquake, the tragedy has been doubly cruel. Robbed of their sole progeny and a hope for the future, they find it even harder to restart their shattered lives, haunted by added guilt, regret and gnawing loss.

illegally spy on americans ... win fabulous prizes!
from global research: Fingered by whistleblower's Mark Klein and Babak Pasdar (450kb PDF) for their role in illegally spying on Americans, AT&T and Verizon were awarded a major contract by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Washington Technology reports: "Verizon Business will perform the lion's share of the work on the Homeland Security Department's OneNet telecommunications contract with support from AT&T Government Solutions."

'operation terminal stinger' set for penn airport
from pittsburgh tribune-review: Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity will be the site of an emergency response training exercise. “Operation Terminal Stinger” is scheduled for June 6 and 7 at the facility near Latrobe. The exercise is required by the Federal Aviation Administration and will feature a scenario in which a terrorist cell will down an aircraft with a shoulder-fired missile.

bohemian grove to cut tress for cash
from washington post: Immense power and staggering wealth are as deeply imbedded in the traditions of the Bohemian Club as they are in the grove itself, 100 acres of old-growth redwoods spared from timber companies a century ago in the name of preservation. Which only deepens the dismay that has greeted the club's request to the state of California for permission to log as much as 1 million board feet from the place to raise some cash.