Massey CEO Don Blankenship is back in the news again, and so are the Senators from West Virginia. One still trying to make money and keep unions out of mines, the other fighting for better mine safety regulations. I’ll let you guess who’s who.

Late yesterday, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin released a draft proposal for the November 2010 special election to replace Robert Byrd. I find it interesting because you essentially have the candidate writing the terms of their own election.

The Democratic majority is frail. But that’s not because its huge Senate majority slipped from 59 to 58. It is frail because it lacks the spirit, will and courage of its convictions.

Many reports on the late Robert Byrd’s long career as a US Senator are pointing out that Byrd literally wrote the book on Senate rules and history. And while it is true that Byrd did write the quintessential four-part history of the chamber, his real importance comes from the fact that it was Byrd himself who rewrote Senate rules and precedent.

As always, the right remains a paragon of class.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd passed away last evening at the age of 92. A fellow West Virginian remembers his service.

At 92, Robert Byrd lived a full life, over half of it in the United States Congress. He was an institution in West Virginia and probably did more to keep that state alive as any man in America. His checkered history aside (acknowledged and regretted by him but continually brought up by conservatives losing an argument), he was a massive presence in the Senate, someone who treated the office with dignity. RIP.

Robert Byrd, at 92 the oldest member of the US Senate, the longest-serving member in Congressional history and the President pro tem, sits in a Washington-area hospital today.

Well, the pro-”repeal” folks seem to have talked Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) into supporting their sham compromise, although they needed to add another step to the process to get his vote: a 60-day post-report review process to ensure Congress is happy with the certification provided by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

By the end of this week, we should know whether Congress will make a play to end the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gay service members, or whether they’ll allow continued discrimination in our nation’s armed forces.