Reading another post put me to mind of a sad and unexplainable situation

Someone asked the question 'is your Congressman owned by the coal industry' in another posting and what with us being from West Virginia you can imagine how I responded; yes, of course our Congressional representation is solidly backed by the coal industry,hell, they own the state and command the very laws we live by here.

But then two numbers that I have seen crossed my mind, they are the number of students attending West Virginia University this year and the other was the number of Coal Miners now working in West Virginia. To enlighten you there are about 29,000 students enroled at WVU this year and right now there are about 25,000 persons in this state employed as coal miners.

Now if you were to listen to our bevy of politicians (2 Senators, 3 Congress persons) you would come to believe that everyone in the state is employed as a coal miner and that there is no greater imperative than that they be kept working. Jobs for coal miners is what our elections are all about. But you can listen to the same politicians day and night and not a one of them will campaign on finding jobs for those students, out outnumber the coal miners by about a fifth with the gap growing wider every year.

PS: They don't actually give a shit about the coal miner's jobs either, but as long as they myth can be kept up that the quality of life for the people of this state somehow depends on coal mining they will continue to be the prop that politicians use.

More students than miners, and no a soul in Washington who gives a shit about either one of them.