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After entertainer Bette Midler called West Virginians “poor, illiterate and strung out,” a coal miner from that state responded by saying West Virginians contribute far more to America than anything she does – and that many West Virginians would even be better at doing her job. In an interview on Fox & Friends First on Wednesday, coal miner Bo Copley said that West Virginians aren’t losing any sleep over Midler’s insult, especially since her career has been at a standstill for a while now: “I think my first reaction was, ‘Bette Who?’ I don’t really recall anything that she’s done...

12 Years Ago Joe Biden Falsely Claimed He Was A "Hard Coal miner.""I hope you won't hold it against me but I am a hard coal miner, anthracite coal Scranton Pennsylvania. OK that's where I was born and raised and it's nice to be back in coal country. " Twelve second video here.

Murray Energy Corp., the largest privately held coal miner in the U.S., has warned that it may soon undertake one of the biggest layoffs in the sector during this time of low energy prices. In a notice sent to workers this week, Murray said it could lay off as many as 4,400 employees, or about 80% of its workforce, because of weak coal markets. The company said it anticipates “massive workforce reductions in September.” The law requires a 60-day waiting period before large layoffs occur.

The only thing I worry about with ads like this, is that it will force Obama to drop Biden from the ticket before Sarah gets to slap him around too. It's great when all you have to do is show a video of your opponent to make your point.

Coal miner saved after 5 days underground 27.02.2006 A coal miner who was trapped underground for almost five days has been brought to the surface. He is now in a hospital, dehydrated after after 111 hours without food and drink. His overall condition is fairly good. 30 year-old Zbigniew Nowak is married, with one daughter. His wife told reporters it was their five-year old daughter who kept comforting her throughout the ordeal. Rescuers worked round-the-clock to free the miner from under tons of rubble after a cave-in in the Halemba mine in Ruda Slaska, more than one thousand meters underground.

Gay ex-Falcon comes out -- but is he famous enough to change anything? Bryant Gumbel let me down. For at least a week, Gumbel has been promoting his HBO show's "coming out" interview next Tuesday with a former NFL player. Speculation sprouted all over Internet chat rooms and even in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where rumors had been whispered about a former Viking. Who would it be? Gay folks are always hoping celebrities will come out of the closet publicly. We get downright giddy about a glamorous, male athlete doing so because -- well, because it's never really happened before....

'Oh God, for one more breath'In the cold, choking blackness of the Fraterville Mine, death whispered their names one by oneBy Fred Brown, News-Sentinel Senior writerMay 12, 2002FRATERVILLE -- Monday, May 19, 1902. At 7:30 a.m. in Coal Creek, another spring day is unfolding. Wildflowers dot the hillsides and mountains of Anderson County, their bright blooms poking through the long green grass. They paint a peaceful scene in a place where, a dozen years before, bullets whined through these same mountains during the coal wars between miners, state militia and convicts. But the coal mine convict lease system at the...