My posting this morning about the Utah mine disaster caused one reader to email a pretty sensible comment. I wrote "Miners stilled trapped search suspended after tragic deaths of rescue workers.. ".. The reader wrote, "The miners may be trapped but we don't even know if they are alive. We pray they are, but to assume that after all of this time in the ground they could still be alive? Well I don't know what you think but I see that unlikely." Maybe it is.. but looking through the history of mining disasters and cave-ins.. A few facts from recent history give us reason to hold out that "hope" that Bob Murray told us to keep thinking about, but the desperate situation is definitely grim. And even more so now with the suspension of rescue missions underground. The other interesting piece of information that is getting more play--especially with the help of Keith Olbermann the other night on MSNBC'S COUNTDOWN--is the media attention on Bob Murray's words and actions pre and post mine disaster.. The story will intensify .. We're holding out that hope you asked for, Mr. Murray, but expect those hardball questions to get harder..

PHOTO: AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Trent Nelson