"Pete C." > wrote in message
...
> chefhelen wrote:
>>
>> "Pete C." > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Gregory Morrow wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Pete C. wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > cybercat wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > > As with every area,
>> >> > > education level and economic status has a lot to do with behavior
>> >> > > and
>> >> > > attitudes.
>> >> >
>> >> > Absolutely, but PC or not, there are areas that are predominantly in
>> >> > the
>> >> > south, but not exclusively, where there is effectively a regressive
>> >> > sub
>> >> > species of human developing due to the lack of branches in the
>> >> > family
>> >> > trees. This is biological fact, not any sort of prejudice.
>> >>
>> >> It's not the South, it's poorer US rural areas in general, from Maine
>> >> to California, from Washington state to Florida.
>> >>
>> >> I grew up in west central Illannoy, when I read the area noozepapers
>> >> online I see the very same family names committing the same trashy
>> >> stuff they were doing 40 years ago. LOTS of meth busts, whole
>> >> extended families making meth in fact. On the state sex offender
>> >> registry site I see their mugs and go, "Ah, I went to school with that
>> >> guy's parents, they were pervs too...". Loads of DUI's, domestic
>> >> abuse, etc...
>> >
>> > That is a function of the education and economic status for the most
>> > part. Bad behaving parents produce bad behaving children who produce
>> > more bad behaving children. I was addressing the human sub species
>> > issue, not all bad behavior and ignorance.
>> >
>> >>
>> >> But socio - politically speaking, there do seem to be some
>> >> "backwaters", e.g. parts of Kansas, Missouri, etc. At least Illannoy
>> >> is a blue state (Chicago helps), we've got stuff like protection for
>> >> gays, etc.
>> >>
>> >> An anecdote: A good friend recently moved from DC to Denver, he drove
>> >> through Kansas and had to call me several times as he traversed the
>> >> state, excitedly telling me about all the stuff that was "Christian -
>> >> themed" and redneck - ish. He'd say, "God, there are even Christian -
>> >> themed MOTELS in this place...!!! There are bible verses on the truck
>> >> stop menus...!!! A waitress asked me what CHURCH I went to...!!!
>> >> There are anti - abortion messages on the SUGAR PACKETS...!!!". I
>> >> said, "Hey, settle down, you're just passing through, lol...". He is
>> >> an East Coast urban guy, *** and Jewish and very well - travelled/
>> >> educated. But he'd never seen anything like Kansas - and he'd lived
>> >> in both St. Louis and Virginia (Alexandria, suburban DC) for periods
>> >> of years. Maybe what got him was that the conservative fundamentalist
>> >> culture that he encountered was *all* that was there in Kansas...
>> >
>> > Well, when the tornados and dustbowl wipe everything out, it naturally
>> > drives the intelligent, educated population to relocate to better
>> > areas,
>> > leaving a concentration of the ignorant and superstitious.
>> >
>> >>
>> >> As for myself, the only time I really felt scared in my life was off
>> >> the interstate in rural Georgia to fill up my car whilst passing
>> >> through. They did NOT like Yankee hippies (I had long hair) in
>> >> 1974...
>> >
>> > On one cross country trip, I specifically planed my fuel fill ups and
>> > routes to eliminate any stops on my way through Alabama. I went through
>> > at 4am, never leaving the major highways, and this was in 2004, I don't
>> > have long hair and I drive a crew cab dually pickup too.
>>
>> Was this your attempt to be stealthy? You sound as though you'd fit
>> right
>> in!
>>
>
> No, actually it was the same truck I drove when I lived in CT. I was
> happy I no longer had CT plates on it of course...


I'm a displaced yankee and I can assure you that they *have* stopped
shooting at us!

>
>>
>> Happy to be in Huntsville, Alabama. We have a 15 minute commute, live in
>> a
>> very nice area where the cost of living is reasonable, have great
>> weather,
>> aside from the occasional cold snap, and have great friends. Ok, there
>> is
>> the fact that it's a red state but I'm working on changing that!
>>
>>
>> helen
>
> Yep, certainly didn't mean to imply that there was no intelligent life
> in Alabama. I've worked with a few intelligent folks from Alabama, and
> notably they were also from the Huntsville area.

Huntsville isn't really like anywhere else in Alabama. From what I
understand we have the highest per capita income in the SE, and the second
highest number of PhDs.

This is propaganda from the Chamber of Commerce tho!

OB food - Having some friends over tomorrow for roasted chicken. Costco had
the two packs BOGOF so I now have 4 sitting in my fridge. I can't fry them
for beans but I do roast them well.


helen