| By Bob Weaver, August, 2007
In the USA we live and die by statistics.
West Virginia is famous for being number one or almost number one, or forty-ninth and fifth, in most every negative category known to mankind.
Whether it is the number of ATV deaths or "worst place in the nation to do business," according to the US Chamber of Commerce.
West Virginia has been tied to the whipping post for over a century.
While Mouth of the Elk governors and politicians issue glowing press releases saying nearly everyone is at work, and publish books about how wonderful the economy has become under their watch, it mostly stays the same or gets worse.
We're joyous when the statistic notches down or up the list.
During the past few days we're listed as being the second fattest state in the nation and the worst in the nation with women's salaries.
Generally, we listed near the worst in educational outcomes, despite spending almost more money (not on teacher's salaries) in the USA.
But thank God, we've hit a No. 1 list - WVU is the top party school in the USA.
Could the three statistics be linked, being fat, drinking a lot and women being underpaid?
Perhaps the worst of all statistics is the number of children still living in poverty in the Mountain State, and being almost the worst in the nation in per captia and median income.
Why is it that the Mountain State has rested on the nation's greatest reserve of coal and natural gas, but somehow their extraction has kept us poorer than we ought to be.
Whom should we blame for this travesty?
Oh, to be somewhere in the middle of a list.
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