re: #311 Backwoods_Sleuth

And these coal miners who think those old jobs were so great? The pay was crap, the hours were long, the UMW was mostly shut out, and all safety regulations were completely ignored.
It was always a crapshoot if you would come home alive at the end of your shift.
Oh, and black lung…if you were looking for those benefits, the GOP has already said fuck you.

My mom’s grandfathers both died of black lung. In fact, the tough life of miners is exactly why my family lives in Virginia today. My mom’s dad didn’t want to work in the coal mines or steel mills. See, this is where I disagree about the whole helpless working class thing, Grandpa was a man with less than a high school education who after he got out of Korea got some vocational training and came down here to VA. HE never lost his Western Pa accents and ways but he made his home here because he wanted to choose his own destiny and not let the economy of Johnstown choose it for him.