Scott Shields over at MyDD wrote a thoughtful piece that outlined the Bush administration's failure to enforce mine safety laws in recent years.  It's a timely point in light of the tragedy at the Sago mine.

But the right wing is coming unwound about it, charging that Shields is blaming Bush for the explosion at the mine.  Shields did no such thing, and it is a sign that the right-wing is in a panic that they are trying to make such a silly argument.

How can the MSM possibly write a sentence like this one:

Wanting to avoid any link to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the White House said Wednesday that President Bush's re-election campaign was donating $6,000 in contributions from Abramoff, his wife and an Indian tribe he represented to charity.

Abramoff raised over $100,000 for the Bush campaign, and a Sharon Theimer AP from last May documented numerous other ties between the Bush administration and Abramoff and they still write a paragraph like that.

12 of the 13 trapped miners in the collapsed West Virginia coal mine have perished.  And you might think it would be impossible to find a way to make that tragedy any worse.

But executives with International Coal Group managed to find a way.

Here's CNN's report on it:

 Grief and anger replaced jubilation early Wednesday as mine officials announced that, despite earlier reports, only one of 13 trapped miners had survived a West Virginia mining accident.

Late Tuesday, celebrations erupted as word spread among family members that 12 miners had been found alive at the Sago Mine.

Hours later, Ben Hatfield, president and CEO of the mine company, told miners' loved ones that a "miscommunication" had resulted in an error: all but one of the missing miners was dead.

Anna Casto, whose cousin was among those found dead, angrily disagreed with Hatfield's use of the term "miscommunication."

The NY Times and WaPo just posted breaking news stories on the pending Abramoff deal.

NY Times snip that will cause severe heartburn in the GOP Caucus:

Mr. Abramoff has been talking to investigators in the corruption case for many months, said participants in the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. They said he had provided a full picture of what evidence he could offer against other suspects.

CNN carries an in-depth story on how the Bush administration botched the capture of bin Laden at Tora Bora.

The NY Times editorializes about the recent trend for states to take up the issue of the minimum wage, given the failure of the GOP Congress to act.

There's little doubt that this is an issue that is best dealt with at the federal level, but it is hard to argue with states taking matters into their own hands given the GOP Congress's cave in to a handful of special interests on this issue.

Even Governor Arnold is getting in on the action.

There is no word on the status of 13 miners trapped in a West Virginia coal mine after an early-morning explosion yesterday:

An early-morning explosion at a coal mine Monday apparently trapped 13 miners nearly two miles into a horizontal tunnel that is about 260 feet underground, state authorities said.

A second group of miners escaped the mine after hearing and feeling the explosion. Several of them tried to return to save their co-workers and reached the 9,000-foot mark before air-quality monitors indicated there was too much deadly carbon monoxide for them to safely go farther.

Today's NY Times reports that even John Ashcroft may have had concerns about Bush's domestic spying plans.

Just how bad does something have to be before John Ashcroft would object?  In my experience, pretty bad.

As long as he is the one wielding the power, he thing it's a pretty wonderful thing.  So this operation had to be pretty flagrantly extra-legal for him to raise a concern. 

The Miami Herald carries this thought provoking piece from Robert Steinback:

Bush would have us excuse his administration's excesses in deference to the ''war on terror'' -- a war, it should be pointed out, that can never end. Terrorism is a tactic, an eventuality, not an opposition army or rogue nation. If we caught every person guilty of a terrorist act, we still wouldn't know where tomorrow's first-time terrorist will strike. Fighting terrorism is a bit like fighting infection -- even when it's beaten, you must continue the fight or it will strike again.