Where it's dark as a dungeon…

...damp as the dew
danger is double pleasures are few
Where the rain never falls the sun never shines
It's a dark as a dungeon way down in the mine.

If you do anything like prayer, the folks in West Virginia could use your efforts.

It doesn't take anything like a revelation from the cosmic muffin, though, to understand that this is intolerable in 2006.

In recent years, the mine has been cited repeatedly for a variety of health and safety violations by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. In a recent 11-week review period that ran from October through December, the agency's inspectors cited the mine for 46 alleged violations of mine health and safety rules and levied almost $3,000 in fines.

The most serious violations included problems with protections against roof cave-ins and the mine's overall plans to safeguard against methane gas and dust buildup.

Forty six violations in eleven weeks. Three thousand dollars in fines.

That's about sixty five bucks apiece. Not even a stiff traffic ticket in these parts. Or, if you prefer, two hundred and thirty dollars for each of the thirteen lives in jeopardy as I write.

I'm waiting for a response from the 'culture of life' crowd that transcends piety, please.