All talk?

 It's been a long and disappointing struggle over the last year to try to get WV Senator Joe Manchin to take positive action on human needs and climate. Now we're getting down to the wire. So many people have been let down, perhaps especially kids and parents who at least so far seem to have lost out on help with child care, paid leave, the refundable Child Tax Credit and more.

If there's any chance of salvaging anything in the federal budget reconciliation process, it might come down to coal miners. The federal Black Lung excise tax provides modest benefits for people struggling with that terrible disease--and it expired last year, leaving the long-term stability of the program in question. Extending it was part of the Build Back Better bill that got tanked by Manchin in December.

In West Virginia, politicians traditionally pretend to care about coal miners, although it seems like most of the real love goes to coal companies. Given all that rhetoric and theater, it seems like this is one thing that has to get across the line, which could open the way for more.

Yesterday, the National Black Lung Association held a press conference at the statue honoring miners at the state capitol calling on Manchin to come through for miners and their families via the reconciliation process. Fortunately, the press showed up, including the Charleston Gazette-Mail, WV Public Broadcasting, WV MetroNews, and even The Hill. More national stories may be in the works.

It seems like there is real pressure now for actions to match words. But I've been wrong before.

What would Dante say?

The Gentle Reader may recall an expose by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News a while back about how coal companies, their lawyers, and a lab at Johns Hopkins routinely collaborated to deny miners black lung benefits.

According to news reports, Hopkins has terminated that program, which will forever be a scar on the institution. It should never have existed to start with. I wonder how many miners died before getting the benefits they deserved

One doctor there, and I use the term loosely, is said not to have found a single case of black lung in the more than 1,500 cases he investigated. Since then, the federal government has informed around 1,100 miners that they were wrongly denied benefits.Of course, they only informed the ones who still lived.

All of which makes me wonder what circle in Hell Dante would assign to those responsible. I'm guessing it would be somewhere in Malebolge, the eight circle, which is reserved for fraud, or maybe even the icy ninth, which is reserved for those who betray. I think it's a safe bet that he'd put them way down.