A WV art form

I'm a bit behind in blogging (and I apologize for the annoying alliteration), but must call attention to an event earlier this week when Gov. Justice and representatives of extractive industries called a press conference to protest that old trope "the war on coal."

Here's coverage from the Gazette-Mail and WV MetroNews.

I get it. I mean, it's worked so well for them in the past, politically and economically.

This time the villain isn't a black man with an unusual name but rather rootless cosmopolitan New York financier Michael Bloomberg (do I hear another dog whistle going off?--that worked really well for them in the past as well.) This "limousine liberal" pledged to spend $500 million to put coal power plants out of business by 2030 in an effort to reduce the effects of climate change.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the short term profits of our rulers vastly outweighs the future of life on earth in terms of importance.

In any event, it had all the ingredients of a good old WV ruling class hissy fit, including a denial of climate change, the denunciation of  an "Other" from out of state and the portrayal of WV's colonial overlords as benefactors.

Here's my take: if they're that worried about it, they have a remedy within reach. $500 million is pretty close to the amount of regressive tax cuts business groups and the wealthy enjoy each year.

In case you were wondering...

...West Virginia's leaders have been on a major ruling class hissy fit over the Obama administration's proposed Clean Power Plan. Gee, nobody saw that coming.

IT'S NOT ALL BAD. On the other hand, two friends of mine who recently started a program to bring yoga to West Virginia's prison population got some nice coverage in the Gazette today. One of them was a guardian angel of mine on a triathlon I barely managed to finish. I now owe her a karmic debt.

MORE GOOD NEWS. WV continues to make huge strides in child nutrition. The Harrison County school board recently decided to dramatically expand its participation in a federal program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students in schools with high poverty rates. They piloted the program at three schools last year.

Even better, one heretofore holdout county, Wetzel, recently decided to provide free meals to all kids county wide. On the cosmic scale, this might not seem like a big deal, but it's a huge one for the kids who no longer have to deal with stigma and the parents who no longer have to worry about another bill.

A big thank you to the adults in those counties who stood up for kids!