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Arganger
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15 May 2018, 8:51 am

Chummy wrote:
America and Evil, two words that are as far from one another as the Sun is from Saturn. Go live in Sudan, Iran or Syria and try to evaluate (that is - if you survive) how much they contributed to the human race in medicine, agriculture, technology and science. Let me save you the trouble - the answer is - none.

Seriously bro, the world is not black/white. If you think Slavery and all other things listed were invented in America well you're wrong. Everywhere in the world had Slavery at some point, it is definitely not an "American" thing. In fact the only reason why slavery is often mentioned in relation to America is Ethnocentrism (however almost nobody remembers there were human slavery markets in Saudi Arabia till the 1960s and women were not allowed to vote till very recently).

Instead of thinking oh this and that is evil I suggest every private citizen will try to minimize his/her own bad deeds and do as much good as possible instead.


That is an unnecessary and unhelpful reply. Anyway, eugenics did actually originate in America, and the fact that other countries also did/do evil doesn't make what America has done okay.


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AngelRho
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15 May 2018, 4:57 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
I have no problem with government programs for those who need them. I have a problem with government creating dependency on programs.

I don’t have a problem with single mothers on welfare. I have a problem with single mothers and grandmothers living 15 to a house in deplorable conditions so they can live work-free. And they teach their daughters to get pregnant and continue the cycle. They even pimp them out to their uncles and cousins. Do NOT tell me this doesn’t happen. I used to work for a lawyer who made most of his money keeping the impoverished in bankruptcy, plus most of my teaching career has been among the underprivileged. I have seen it, touched it, SMELLED it. Do NOT tell me these poor people are somehow better off dependent on the government from cradle to grave. Leftist exploitation of these people in exchange for power is SICKENING.

I have no problem whatsoever supporting widows, and even more so if their husbands died in combat.

I have no problem supporting children whose own parents cannot for whatever reason adequately raise them. I don’t mean POOR. I mean abusive, mentally ill, etc.

But I DO have a BIG problem with corrupt, power-trip DHS social workers ripping kids from their parents without so much as due process. I have a BIG problem with foster parents who run their homes like some kind of business where kids run unsupervised, perpetuating cycles of abuse on younger children. I have a BIG problem with how these kids get inadequate education and are unable to care for themselves once they age out of the system.

I do not have a problem helping the disabled.

I DO have a problem with keeping the disabled drugged up and homebound when they want to at least TRY to contribute positively, and maybe they have SOME ability to do just that. People who want to continue to work doing what they enjoy but CANNOT because doing so would mean they’d lose the only margin they have in benefits. In other words, it’s a system that actually punishes people for even trying.

I do not think so-called “income inequality” is a big deal because productive people deserve to be rewarded on the basis of what they do.

I have a HUGE problem in the gap between welfare payouts and comparable entry-level wages that, over time, would lead to something that would genuinely help people get back on their feet after a personal economic crisis. The over abundance of government assistance creates dependency. I don’t think I’ll ever see a good resolution to this problem, because a government min wage mandate hurts employers. But maybe meeting in the middle somewhere with a slight increase in pay for entry level jobs with a significant enough reduction in welfare for job-seekers might make the workforce preferable to doing nothing.


You put the blame on evil, evil leftists and poor people themselves.

"poor people themselves"? Oh, wait...you mean "poor" people who buy into the leftist agenda and "abuse" the system to sponge off people actually DOING something productive. People who are well aware of what they're doing, yes, I blame them. People who keep leftists in power, rich or poor, yes, I blame them.

But that's a double-edged sword. They're a significant part of perpetuating this cycle, yes, so the "fault" lies with them. BUT...at the same time I also recognize that they're being exploited and indoctrinated by leftists. I don't really blame poor people for attitudes they have when they haven't been shown better or given any hope for better. It's easy just to blame the rich for all their problems even though the rich have nothing to do with them. Rich people know that ALL people benefit when wealth is shared, when human capital is an investment, and when more people succeed and build wealth. If rich people know that they only benefit more when poor people succeed, why would they keep them poor? That makes no sense.

Who WOULD benefit by keeping people poor? Who stands to benefit the most from a permanent underclass?

Kraichgauer wrote:
But what about businesses that had never employed many people in rural areas, or who had deserted the inner cities with white flight? Are you going to hold businesses accountable for denying huge swaths of Americans? In the cases of inner cities, it was clearly racist business people who picked up and left. And when they do employ people, it's a matter of employers paying people as little as they can while working them as much as they can. Do you feel any outrage about that?


I don't think you know what you're talking about. Leftists and their policies are responsible for creating dependence on public housing projects. These are areas rife with gang violence, prostitution, drugs, etc. It's not safe for businesses to operate in high crime areas, especially with organized crime involved. Everyone knows that. To attract the best employees, businesses move where employers feel their employees and clientele will be safest and where the highest demand for goods and services are. Areas of urban decay and rural areas that are inhospitable to in-demand industries are not where these businesses can thrive.

I live in the Mississippi Delta. Greenville was once home to a thriving towboat industry. For a number of different reasons the shipbuilders were no longer profitable and they left. When they left, they took all the affluent people who made their fortunes in shipbuilding and working in the port with them. A large number of people fled to Madison, MS which went from being a barely visible speck on the map to a MAJOR suburb of Jackson.

What's in Madison? Not really anything special. Just a few short miles NORTH of Madison is Canton, which is the sight of a MASSIVE, sprawling Nissan plant. Madison is situated comfortably between the state capital and a quaint, non-progressive, small town that is otherwise a dying community.

Now, Canton HAS benefited greatly from the plant. The problem with Canton is a prevalence of leftist politics, same as what's happened in Greenville that has made it near impossible to do business there. Madison is a much more attractive location, which is why poor people will practically gamble the very shirts on their backs to move there. They're winning, too. Poor people in Greenville and Canton? It's just sad.

And when you stop and actually TALK to these people, you find just how far the left has gotten to them. They honestly believe that they've been forgotten. Over and over and over again I've heard politicians make all kinds of promises about bringing industries back. Year after year, and it seems things are only getting worse. But you keep hearing the same old rhetoric: "Vote for me! Vote for me!" And hold on. Wait. We can make it! Another year, another year, another election...

It's always the same old story.

After having been here a few years as a musician, I've met a lot of people and even drifted into local political circles. I've noticed something really interesting, and really telling, about the two parties here. Conservative Republicans have always been very nice and encouraging. And brutally honest when the time came. When someone announces they are retiring or not seeking reelection, they are all on the phone trying to find out what's happening. They aren't out for blood and power. They just don't believe in tearing down their friends. You never see this on TV when it comes to the big state and national races, but it's unreal how much they value relationships above political gain. They approach politics with a sense of conscience and duty. When you understand the inner workings of this system, you'll be dumbfounded as to why anybody would EVER WANT to run for any election. Which is why I have no doubts as to Trump's intentions in office. Power comes at a terrible price--to yourself, your family, your friends, your business. You cannot win without really wanting it, and the winners in politics, especially in conservative politics, are the ones who really want it more than anyone else.

Leftist politicians? Where I live, these guys act like mob bosses. I kid you not, you cannot run for anything without ASKING FOR FREAKIN PERMISSION. If you don't, if you don't work your way through the ranks, if you don't have the right friends, if they've already got their man picked out, they will harass and isolate you. One day you have a sizable law practice; the next day, your clients are dropping like flies. If you are a business owner (not likely, but IF), you suddenly have fewer customers. People who used to stop you on the street and talk to you suddenly don't recognize you or know who you are. Church attendance drops by half and a new church pops up across town. To the outsider looking in, it's WEIRD. You hear whisperings and mumblings and think this guy truly must be an evil person. Once you know how these circles run, it starts to make a weird sort of sense. Party bosses keep a death grip on power. If you aren't THEIR man, YOU DON'T RUN.

You might say, well, the Republicans have their "old boy's club" system. Maybe. But from what I've seen it's really an invitation to participate in the election process. A lot of these guys will run for office if no one else wants the job. They step aside when someone else they know wants the job because they know someone who is passionate about serving the community on the local and state level will do a much better job than someone who isn't.

And because of that, I think conservatives largely do a better job of serving the needs of our communities. They invite the businesses in and give them all the help they need to get up and running. They connect them with other business owners in the area. They introduce them to the law and accounting firms. Invite them to golf with the city councilman of their ward.

But if you're trying to get started on the "other" side of town, you have to talk to the right preacher, right lawyer, maybe even the right judge. If you don't get approval from these mobsters, you don't move forward.

The "good guys" you WANT who have the tools and resources to change the landscape of rural and urban decay CAN'T EVEN GET IN to make changes.

When my wife and I first got married and had our first baby on the way, we looked towards moving out of the apartment and buying a house. We were warned by a good friend knowledgeable of the area to stay on the south end of town. But we frequently found ourself driving along Main Street where there was this beautiful 3-story home for sale. I say "beautiful," but really it was a fixer-upper that needed a lot of work. We stopped by one day and the front door wasn't even locked. We let ourselves in and walked through. Huge gaping hole in the ground floor, windows broken out, some rotten boards here and there. But MOSTLY structurally sound. We really wanted that house, but there was just no way it would have worked for us.

Not too many years later, someone FINALLY bought it and fixed it up. It's a great house. What thrilled me was that someone with some money had the courage to buy it and give it the treatment it deserved.

Fast forward a few short MORE years...

Gentrification began along Main St. and Washington Ave. BIG TIME. Someone moved in and kicked out all the meth makers and drug dealers, totally gutted a building, and now there are two restaurants, a microbrewery, and a luxury hotel/apartment complex. The road was totally scraped off and repaved, whereas the first 5 or so years we lived here the place looked like downtown Baghdad. People are coming in and sticking it to the leftist mob bosses. There's been a lot of investment in tourism, and we have people coming in from all over the planet to explore the birthplace of the blues. We're a big stop for Mississippi River tourism. We have a Boston-qualifying marathon every year from Lake Village, Arkansas, to Greenville and runners are POURING in (I ran the half for the first time this year). We're courting employers to move here every chance we get, and while it's slow going, things are moving forward.

And it's all happening without approval from or thanks to the Mob.

So if you want to know where my outrage is... Why should I be outraged? Policies are changing. Incentives are growing. People are coming BACK. Things are slowly getting better. My outrage is firmly against the Mob bosses that are whipping the impoverished day after day after day with rhetoric and doing NOTHING to make things better. These "pastors," lawyers, and "community organizers" are fighting for Civil Rights, alright. Fighting to keep their slaves on the same plantation they've been on since the 1930's. Fighting to never let them forget what happened when the levee broke and who's REALLY in charge in the Delta. Fighting to keep them right where they were in the 1960's and during desegregation. Fighting to keep them holding on so hard to those old chains when we're right here with open arms begging them to rise from their misery and work alongside us to really make this city awesome they way so many of the older people remember it.

Racists? Please...

The only racists here are those who are stuck back in 1960's era identity politics. White flight? Cry me a freakin' river!
"Huge swaths" of minorities packed up and left with them, too. Or haven't you heard about the various migrations along the Mississippi River? I think I know more people where I live from Chicago than actually FROM the Delta. They fled to Memphis. They fled to St. Louis. They fled to Chicago. You know what they found? Gangs. Slum lords. Democratic Party mob bosses. Oh, oh...and RAAAAAAAAAAACISMMMMMMMM. So you know what they did? They came BACK! And they are THRIVING. You know what's happening to those who stayed? They're out taking pot shots at cops and acting all confused when someone shoots back and someone else ends up dead.

Now, you'll hear all kinds of things about race relations in the Delta. I'll be the first to admit that EVERYONE has a lot of work to do if we want that to improve.

But you know what is NOT happening in the Delta? People don't shoot at cops. Cops ENFORCE our local laws and PROTECT our communities, so they are NOT killing every black man, woman, or child on sight. Our people here respect law enforcement and own up to the fact that they are confronted only because they have behaved badly and broken a law. And white people don't waste any of their time criticizing people who live north of US Hwy 82. White people don't throw fits when a black family, a "mixed" family, a Latino family, or a Muslim family moves into the Lake Manor subdivision. White people in MY neighborhood don't go burning crosses in front of their black next-door neighbors, and black people here don't go around trashing the place. And NOBODY rolls up in our neighborhood to vandalize or steal things because, being a rough neighborhood, it's assumed we ALL, and I mean ALL (black, white, latino) of us are carrying various and sundry guns and half of us are crazy or our brains are fried.

The conservatives among us are trying to make things better and always HAVE been.

Where were the leftists during the great migrations?

Where were the community organizers when the big industries moved out?

Where were the lawyers? Where were the preachers?

What were they doing when they weren't out there trying to round up each and every one of them trying so hard to get away and escape to a better life?

What were the mob bosses doing when they weren't threatening their constituents to keep their heads down and mouths shut?

Because I know where they were. I know what they were doing. The organizers had everyone out rioting. The lawyers were busy keeping clients re-filing bankruptcy after bankruptcy like Chapter 13 is some kind of entitlement program. The preachers...holy crap...the preachers are out there forcing their congregants to turn in their check stubs so they can make sure that they're paying their required 10% so they can go to heaven. The mob bosses where living high on the hog off of bribes, tax revenue, grants, and any federal program they could get their grubby little hands on.

So...

Yeah, I get it. It's easy to blame big business. But you don't live where I live. You aren't down here in the trenches with these people the way I am. You don't know how destructive leftist policies have been for these people. You don't know what it's like being where the are, feeling trapped, and having NO IDEA that just making tiny little steps in the right direction makes all the difference in the world. A school guidance counselor SCREAMED at me once because I had the nerve to help a girl get into a publicly-funded residential visual and performing arts school. I've talked with kids who were distraught over college entrance exam scores not being high enough. Kids who were told by the same guidance counselor that they were only allowed to take the exams ONCE. Um...it hadn't been that many years since I took the exam, and I took the ACT the first time in 7th grade and at least twice a year from 9th grade on. WHY are they lying to these kids? Why focus on failing tech prep programs that do nothing for long-term success? Do they honestly not want kids going to college? Not even community college?

These people are not learning helplessness and hopelessness through personal experiences. Teachers and administrators are actively teaching them that.

I teach black kids, latinos, AND white kids that they have a choice. I teach them that they can choose to work hard and STAY here to better their circumstances and with that their community. I teach them that they can choose to leave and bring their experiences back home, same thing. And I teach them that they never have to return if they see no future in staying here. It's all up to them. They are in control. Not the mob bosses. Not the preachers with clammy hands they can't seem to keep off the young married women. Not the lawyers who keep you in debt and bankruptcy for your next meal. Not your politicians who make empty promises of more government programs coming our way. Not the teachers and administrators.

Each and every individual regardless of skin color, religion, sexual orientation/gender, how much money their parents had--every single one has control of his or her destiny.

And I will NOT point the finger at the businesses who are out there creating opportunities and inviting them in with open arms. I will NOT blame the businesses moving into the poor communities. I will NOT blame businesses and individuals for moving where they would find and create even more opportunity and benefit for the most amount of people.

And finally...remember how I mentioned Canton? You know what the leftists tried to do in Canton? They came out in droves from all over the country to protest and put pressure on Nissan to cave and allow the unions in. The workers...THE WORKERS said overwhelmingly NO. Because a lot of these people have been outside Mississippi and the south where leftist labor policies and labor unions have full sway. They know how the unions have singlehandedly run entire businesses into the ground. They knew they were getting a better deal when Nissan could be left alone to pay them what they felt the workers deserved. They know paying dues and getting no real benefit while their union overlords line their pockets is pointless and ultimately hurts the workers and the company that pays them. They've been there, too, and they refuse to go back to Egypt. And if you could see how these people in parts of Canton and all of Madison are living! The workers are raking in great money, and all sorts of industries have sprung up to support them. "Lifestyle centers" EVERYWHERE. It's amazing. Truly amazing.

Where's my outrage at white flight? Here's the thing: I'm somewhat stuck in the present but I'm steadily moving towards the future. I'm not stuck in the past. I don't worry about what "they" did, who "they" hurt. I'm concerned about what "they are DOING, who they are HELPING. I want to be where the winners are and I want to bring as many people as I can with me. I have hope for humanity. I have hope for my community. I have hope for the Delta. I don't have time for outrage, and it's pointless now. We are WINNING. Let's keep winning!



Chummy
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15 May 2018, 5:20 pm

Arganger wrote:
Chummy wrote:
America and Evil, two words that are as far from one another as the Sun is from Saturn. Go live in Sudan, Iran or Syria and try to evaluate (that is - if you survive) how much they contributed to the human race in medicine, agriculture, technology and science. Let me save you the trouble - the answer is - none.

Seriously bro, the world is not black/white. If you think Slavery and all other things listed were invented in America well you're wrong. Everywhere in the world had Slavery at some point, it is definitely not an "American" thing. In fact the only reason why slavery is often mentioned in relation to America is Ethnocentrism (however almost nobody remembers there were human slavery markets in Saudi Arabia till the 1960s and women were not allowed to vote till very recently).

Instead of thinking oh this and that is evil I suggest every private citizen will try to minimize his/her own bad deeds and do as much good as possible instead.


That is an unnecessary and unhelpful reply. Anyway, eugenics did actually originate in America, and the fact that other countries also did/do evil doesn't make what America has done okay.


It's unhelpful to you, because you are not capable enough to comprehend it. I said slavery did not start in America and was present in ancient times even before the Roman Empire. And you contradict me by saying eugenics "started in America"? rofl this is an argument for the sake of arguing, since obviously slavery wasn't about eugenics (which obviously isn't an evil too anway -, only when Hilter came he twisted this theory to fit his own agenda. Does Hilter ruling Germany during WW2 makes Germany an evil country? NO. At the time yes, but not as a whole definition) You clearly missed the point. If you look only at the evil stuff countries like America, Britian, Japan etc etc had done in the past hundreds of years, you could have easily said everyone is evil therefore this is a worthless discussion.

Not sure why am I taking the time to educate you, but no problem.



Kraichgauer
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15 May 2018, 6:05 pm

AngelRho wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
I have no problem with government programs for those who need them. I have a problem with government creating dependency on programs.

I don’t have a problem with single mothers on welfare. I have a problem with single mothers and grandmothers living 15 to a house in deplorable conditions so they can live work-free. And they teach their daughters to get pregnant and continue the cycle. They even pimp them out to their uncles and cousins. Do NOT tell me this doesn’t happen. I used to work for a lawyer who made most of his money keeping the impoverished in bankruptcy, plus most of my teaching career has been among the underprivileged. I have seen it, touched it, SMELLED it. Do NOT tell me these poor people are somehow better off dependent on the government from cradle to grave. Leftist exploitation of these people in exchange for power is SICKENING.

I have no problem whatsoever supporting widows, and even more so if their husbands died in combat.

I have no problem supporting children whose own parents cannot for whatever reason adequately raise them. I don’t mean POOR. I mean abusive, mentally ill, etc.

But I DO have a BIG problem with corrupt, power-trip DHS social workers ripping kids from their parents without so much as due process. I have a BIG problem with foster parents who run their homes like some kind of business where kids run unsupervised, perpetuating cycles of abuse on younger children. I have a BIG problem with how these kids get inadequate education and are unable to care for themselves once they age out of the system.

I do not have a problem helping the disabled.

I DO have a problem with keeping the disabled drugged up and homebound when they want to at least TRY to contribute positively, and maybe they have SOME ability to do just that. People who want to continue to work doing what they enjoy but CANNOT because doing so would mean they’d lose the only margin they have in benefits. In other words, it’s a system that actually punishes people for even trying.

I do not think so-called “income inequality” is a big deal because productive people deserve to be rewarded on the basis of what they do.

I have a HUGE problem in the gap between welfare payouts and comparable entry-level wages that, over time, would lead to something that would genuinely help people get back on their feet after a personal economic crisis. The over abundance of government assistance creates dependency. I don’t think I’ll ever see a good resolution to this problem, because a government min wage mandate hurts employers. But maybe meeting in the middle somewhere with a slight increase in pay for entry level jobs with a significant enough reduction in welfare for job-seekers might make the workforce preferable to doing nothing.


You put the blame on evil, evil leftists and poor people themselves.

"poor people themselves"? Oh, wait...you mean "poor" people who buy into the leftist agenda and "abuse" the system to sponge off people actually DOING something productive. People who are well aware of what they're doing, yes, I blame them. People who keep leftists in power, rich or poor, yes, I blame them.

But that's a double-edged sword. They're a significant part of perpetuating this cycle, yes, so the "fault" lies with them. BUT...at the same time I also recognize that they're being exploited and indoctrinated by leftists. I don't really blame poor people for attitudes they have when they haven't been shown better or given any hope for better. It's easy just to blame the rich for all their problems even though the rich have nothing to do with them. Rich people know that ALL people benefit when wealth is shared, when human capital is an investment, and when more people succeed and build wealth. If rich people know that they only benefit more when poor people succeed, why would they keep them poor? That makes no sense.

Who WOULD benefit by keeping people poor? Who stands to benefit the most from a permanent underclass?

Kraichgauer wrote:
But what about businesses that had never employed many people in rural areas, or who had deserted the inner cities with white flight? Are you going to hold businesses accountable for denying huge swaths of Americans? In the cases of inner cities, it was clearly racist business people who picked up and left. And when they do employ people, it's a matter of employers paying people as little as they can while working them as much as they can. Do you feel any outrage about that?


I don't think you know what you're talking about. Leftists and their policies are responsible for creating dependence on public housing projects. These are areas rife with gang violence, prostitution, drugs, etc. It's not safe for businesses to operate in high crime areas, especially with organized crime involved. Everyone knows that. To attract the best employees, businesses move where employers feel their employees and clientele will be safest and where the highest demand for goods and services are. Areas of urban decay and rural areas that are inhospitable to in-demand industries are not where these businesses can thrive.

I live in the Mississippi Delta. Greenville was once home to a thriving towboat industry. For a number of different reasons the shipbuilders were no longer profitable and they left. When they left, they took all the affluent people who made their fortunes in shipbuilding and working in the port with them. A large number of people fled to Madison, MS which went from being a barely visible speck on the map to a MAJOR suburb of Jackson.

What's in Madison? Not really anything special. Just a few short miles NORTH of Madison is Canton, which is the sight of a MASSIVE, sprawling Nissan plant. Madison is situated comfortably between the state capital and a quaint, non-progressive, small town that is otherwise a dying community.

Now, Canton HAS benefited greatly from the plant. The problem with Canton is a prevalence of leftist politics, same as what's happened in Greenville that has made it near impossible to do business there. Madison is a much more attractive location, which is why poor people will practically gamble the very shirts on their backs to move there. They're winning, too. Poor people in Greenville and Canton? It's just sad.

And when you stop and actually TALK to these people, you find just how far the left has gotten to them. They honestly believe that they've been forgotten. Over and over and over again I've heard politicians make all kinds of promises about bringing industries back. Year after year, and it seems things are only getting worse. But you keep hearing the same old rhetoric: "Vote for me! Vote for me!" And hold on. Wait. We can make it! Another year, another year, another election...

It's always the same old story.

After having been here a few years as a musician, I've met a lot of people and even drifted into local political circles. I've noticed something really interesting, and really telling, about the two parties here. Conservative Republicans have always been very nice and encouraging. And brutally honest when the time came. When someone announces they are retiring or not seeking reelection, they are all on the phone trying to find out what's happening. They aren't out for blood and power. They just don't believe in tearing down their friends. You never see this on TV when it comes to the big state and national races, but it's unreal how much they value relationships above political gain. They approach politics with a sense of conscience and duty. When you understand the inner workings of this system, you'll be dumbfounded as to why anybody would EVER WANT to run for any election. Which is why I have no doubts as to Trump's intentions in office. Power comes at a terrible price--to yourself, your family, your friends, your business. You cannot win without really wanting it, and the winners in politics, especially in conservative politics, are the ones who really want it more than anyone else.

Leftist politicians? Where I live, these guys act like mob bosses. I kid you not, you cannot run for anything without ASKING FOR FREAKIN PERMISSION. If you don't, if you don't work your way through the ranks, if you don't have the right friends, if they've already got their man picked out, they will harass and isolate you. One day you have a sizable law practice; the next day, your clients are dropping like flies. If you are a business owner (not likely, but IF), you suddenly have fewer customers. People who used to stop you on the street and talk to you suddenly don't recognize you or know who you are. Church attendance drops by half and a new church pops up across town. To the outsider looking in, it's WEIRD. You hear whisperings and mumblings and think this guy truly must be an evil person. Once you know how these circles run, it starts to make a weird sort of sense. Party bosses keep a death grip on power. If you aren't THEIR man, YOU DON'T RUN.

You might say, well, the Republicans have their "old boy's club" system. Maybe. But from what I've seen it's really an invitation to participate in the election process. A lot of these guys will run for office if no one else wants the job. They step aside when someone else they know wants the job because they know someone who is passionate about serving the community on the local and state level will do a much better job than someone who isn't.

And because of that, I think conservatives largely do a better job of serving the needs of our communities. They invite the businesses in and give them all the help they need to get up and running. They connect them with other business owners in the area. They introduce them to the law and accounting firms. Invite them to golf with the city councilman of their ward.

But if you're trying to get started on the "other" side of town, you have to talk to the right preacher, right lawyer, maybe even the right judge. If you don't get approval from these mobsters, you don't move forward.

The "good guys" you WANT who have the tools and resources to change the landscape of rural and urban decay CAN'T EVEN GET IN to make changes.

When my wife and I first got married and had our first baby on the way, we looked towards moving out of the apartment and buying a house. We were warned by a good friend knowledgeable of the area to stay on the south end of town. But we frequently found ourself driving along Main Street where there was this beautiful 3-story home for sale. I say "beautiful," but really it was a fixer-upper that needed a lot of work. We stopped by one day and the front door wasn't even locked. We let ourselves in and walked through. Huge gaping hole in the ground floor, windows broken out, some rotten boards here and there. But MOSTLY structurally sound. We really wanted that house, but there was just no way it would have worked for us.

Not too many years later, someone FINALLY bought it and fixed it up. It's a great house. What thrilled me was that someone with some money had the courage to buy it and give it the treatment it deserved.

Fast forward a few short MORE years...

Gentrification began along Main St. and Washington Ave. BIG TIME. Someone moved in and kicked out all the meth makers and drug dealers, totally gutted a building, and now there are two restaurants, a microbrewery, and a luxury hotel/apartment complex. The road was totally scraped off and repaved, whereas the first 5 or so years we lived here the place looked like downtown Baghdad. People are coming in and sticking it to the leftist mob bosses. There's been a lot of investment in tourism, and we have people coming in from all over the planet to explore the birthplace of the blues. We're a big stop for Mississippi River tourism. We have a Boston-qualifying marathon every year from Lake Village, Arkansas, to Greenville and runners are POURING in (I ran the half for the first time this year). We're courting employers to move here every chance we get, and while it's slow going, things are moving forward.

And it's all happening without approval from or thanks to the Mob.

So if you want to know where my outrage is... Why should I be outraged? Policies are changing. Incentives are growing. People are coming BACK. Things are slowly getting better. My outrage is firmly against the Mob bosses that are whipping the impoverished day after day after day with rhetoric and doing NOTHING to make things better. These "pastors," lawyers, and "community organizers" are fighting for Civil Rights, alright. Fighting to keep their slaves on the same plantation they've been on since the 1930's. Fighting to never let them forget what happened when the levee broke and who's REALLY in charge in the Delta. Fighting to keep them right where they were in the 1960's and during desegregation. Fighting to keep them holding on so hard to those old chains when we're right here with open arms begging them to rise from their misery and work alongside us to really make this city awesome they way so many of the older people remember it.

Racists? Please...

The only racists here are those who are stuck back in 1960's era identity politics. White flight? Cry me a freakin' river!
"Huge swaths" of minorities packed up and left with them, too. Or haven't you heard about the various migrations along the Mississippi River? I think I know more people where I live from Chicago than actually FROM the Delta. They fled to Memphis. They fled to St. Louis. They fled to Chicago. You know what they found? Gangs. Slum lords. Democratic Party mob bosses. Oh, oh...and RAAAAAAAAAAACISMMMMMMMM. So you know what they did? They came BACK! And they are THRIVING. You know what's happening to those who stayed? They're out taking pot shots at cops and acting all confused when someone shoots back and someone else ends up dead.

Now, you'll hear all kinds of things about race relations in the Delta. I'll be the first to admit that EVERYONE has a lot of work to do if we want that to improve.

But you know what is NOT happening in the Delta? People don't shoot at cops. Cops ENFORCE our local laws and PROTECT our communities, so they are NOT killing every black man, woman, or child on sight. Our people here respect law enforcement and own up to the fact that they are confronted only because they have behaved badly and broken a law. And white people don't waste any of their time criticizing people who live north of US Hwy 82. White people don't throw fits when a black family, a "mixed" family, a Latino family, or a Muslim family moves into the Lake Manor subdivision. White people in MY neighborhood don't go burning crosses in front of their black next-door neighbors, and black people here don't go around trashing the place. And NOBODY rolls up in our neighborhood to vandalize or steal things because, being a rough neighborhood, it's assumed we ALL, and I mean ALL (black, white, latino) of us are carrying various and sundry guns and half of us are crazy or our brains are fried.

The conservatives among us are trying to make things better and always HAVE been.

Where were the leftists during the great migrations?

Where were the community organizers when the big industries moved out?

Where were the lawyers? Where were the preachers?

What were they doing when they weren't out there trying to round up each and every one of them trying so hard to get away and escape to a better life?

What were the mob bosses doing when they weren't threatening their constituents to keep their heads down and mouths shut?

Because I know where they were. I know what they were doing. The organizers had everyone out rioting. The lawyers were busy keeping clients re-filing bankruptcy after bankruptcy like Chapter 13 is some kind of entitlement program. The preachers...holy crap...the preachers are out there forcing their congregants to turn in their check stubs so they can make sure that they're paying their required 10% so they can go to heaven. The mob bosses where living high on the hog off of bribes, tax revenue, grants, and any federal program they could get their grubby little hands on.

So...

Yeah, I get it. It's easy to blame big business. But you don't live where I live. You aren't down here in the trenches with these people the way I am. You don't know how destructive leftist policies have been for these people. You don't know what it's like being where the are, feeling trapped, and having NO IDEA that just making tiny little steps in the right direction makes all the difference in the world. A school guidance counselor SCREAMED at me once because I had the nerve to help a girl get into a publicly-funded residential visual and performing arts school. I've talked with kids who were distraught over college entrance exam scores not being high enough. Kids who were told by the same guidance counselor that they were only allowed to take the exams ONCE. Um...it hadn't been that many years since I took the exam, and I took the ACT the first time in 7th grade and at least twice a year from 9th grade on. WHY are they lying to these kids? Why focus on failing tech prep programs that do nothing for long-term success? Do they honestly not want kids going to college? Not even community college?

These people are not learning helplessness and hopelessness through personal experiences. Teachers and administrators are actively teaching them that.

I teach black kids, latinos, AND white kids that they have a choice. I teach them that they can choose to work hard and STAY here to better their circumstances and with that their community. I teach them that they can choose to leave and bring their experiences back home, same thing. And I teach them that they never have to return if they see no future in staying here. It's all up to them. They are in control. Not the mob bosses. Not the preachers with clammy hands they can't seem to keep off the young married women. Not the lawyers who keep you in debt and bankruptcy for your next meal. Not your politicians who make empty promises of more government programs coming our way. Not the teachers and administrators.

Each and every individual regardless of skin color, religion, sexual orientation/gender, how much money their parents had--every single one has control of his or her destiny.

And I will NOT point the finger at the businesses who are out there creating opportunities and inviting them in with open arms. I will NOT blame the businesses moving into the poor communities. I will NOT blame businesses and individuals for moving where they would find and create even more opportunity and benefit for the most amount of people.

And finally...remember how I mentioned Canton? You know what the leftists tried to do in Canton? They came out in droves from all over the country to protest and put pressure on Nissan to cave and allow the unions in. The workers...THE WORKERS said overwhelmingly NO. Because a lot of these people have been outside Mississippi and the south where leftist labor policies and labor unions have full sway. They know how the unions have singlehandedly run entire businesses into the ground. They knew they were getting a better deal when Nissan could be left alone to pay them what they felt the workers deserved. They know paying dues and getting no real benefit while their union overlords line their pockets is pointless and ultimately hurts the workers and the company that pays them. They've been there, too, and they refuse to go back to Egypt. And if you could see how these people in parts of Canton and all of Madison are living! The workers are raking in great money, and all sorts of industries have sprung up to support them. "Lifestyle centers" EVERYWHERE. It's amazing. Truly amazing.

Where's my outrage at white flight? Here's the thing: I'm somewhat stuck in the present but I'm steadily moving towards the future. I'm not stuck in the past. I don't worry about what "they" did, who "they" hurt. I'm concerned about what "they are DOING, who they are HELPING. I want to be where the winners are and I want to bring as many people as I can with me. I have hope for humanity. I have hope for my community. I have hope for the Delta. I don't have time for outrage, and it's pointless now. We are WINNING. Let's keep winning!


Well, not a single thing you've recited bares any resemblance to politics, poor people, business people, unions, gentrification, etc. here in Washington state. If you're happy in your Delta, then good for you, but in all honesty Mississippi is probably the last place someone in my part of the country would want to live, as the Pacific Northwest is the place where people come to in order to get away from someplace else.


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16 May 2018, 8:10 am

Chummy wrote:
Arganger wrote:
Chummy wrote:
America and Evil, two words that are as far from one another as the Sun is from Saturn. Go live in Sudan, Iran or Syria and try to evaluate (that is - if you survive) how much they contributed to the human race in medicine, agriculture, technology and science. Let me save you the trouble - the answer is - none.

Seriously bro, the world is not black/white. If you think Slavery and all other things listed were invented in America well you're wrong. Everywhere in the world had Slavery at some point, it is definitely not an "American" thing. In fact the only reason why slavery is often mentioned in relation to America is Ethnocentrism (however almost nobody remembers there were human slavery markets in Saudi Arabia till the 1960s and women were not allowed to vote till very recently).

Instead of thinking oh this and that is evil I suggest every private citizen will try to minimize his/her own bad deeds and do as much good as possible instead.


That is an unnecessary and unhelpful reply. Anyway, eugenics did actually originate in America, and the fact that other countries also did/do evil doesn't make what America has done okay.


It's unhelpful to you, because you are not capable enough to comprehend it. I said slavery did not start in America and was present in ancient times even before the Roman Empire. And you contradict me by saying eugenics "started in America"? rofl this is an argument for the sake of arguing, since obviously slavery wasn't about eugenics (which obviously isn't an evil too anway -, only when Hilter came he twisted this theory to fit his own agenda. Does Hilter ruling Germany during WW2 makes Germany an evil country? NO. At the time yes, but not as a whole definition) You clearly missed the point. If you look only at the evil stuff countries like America, Britian, Japan etc etc had done in the past hundreds of years, you could have easily said everyone is evil therefore this is a worthless discussion.

Not sure why am I taking the time to educate you, but no problem.


This is about more than slavery, and even though slavery was common elsewhere it was still evil and America still did it. And what the heck? Do you know how many people were forcibly sterilized and traumatized by eugenics? 70,000. 70,000, impoverished, disabled, black, Hispanic, and/or criminals.

America was nearly as bad in the way they treated the disabled as the nazis.

Everyone IS evil, part of the point of this is to remind people of that.


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16 May 2018, 10:15 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
I have no problem with government programs for those who need them. I have a problem with government creating dependency on programs.

I don’t have a problem with single mothers on welfare. I have a problem with single mothers and grandmothers living 15 to a house in deplorable conditions so they can live work-free. And they teach their daughters to get pregnant and continue the cycle. They even pimp them out to their uncles and cousins. Do NOT tell me this doesn’t happen. I used to work for a lawyer who made most of his money keeping the impoverished in bankruptcy, plus most of my teaching career has been among the underprivileged. I have seen it, touched it, SMELLED it. Do NOT tell me these poor people are somehow better off dependent on the government from cradle to grave. Leftist exploitation of these people in exchange for power is SICKENING.

I have no problem whatsoever supporting widows, and even more so if their husbands died in combat.

I have no problem supporting children whose own parents cannot for whatever reason adequately raise them. I don’t mean POOR. I mean abusive, mentally ill, etc.

But I DO have a BIG problem with corrupt, power-trip DHS social workers ripping kids from their parents without so much as due process. I have a BIG problem with foster parents who run their homes like some kind of business where kids run unsupervised, perpetuating cycles of abuse on younger children. I have a BIG problem with how these kids get inadequate education and are unable to care for themselves once they age out of the system.

I do not have a problem helping the disabled.

I DO have a problem with keeping the disabled drugged up and homebound when they want to at least TRY to contribute positively, and maybe they have SOME ability to do just that. People who want to continue to work doing what they enjoy but CANNOT because doing so would mean they’d lose the only margin they have in benefits. In other words, it’s a system that actually punishes people for even trying.

I do not think so-called “income inequality” is a big deal because productive people deserve to be rewarded on the basis of what they do.

I have a HUGE problem in the gap between welfare payouts and comparable entry-level wages that, over time, would lead to something that would genuinely help people get back on their feet after a personal economic crisis. The over abundance of government assistance creates dependency. I don’t think I’ll ever see a good resolution to this problem, because a government min wage mandate hurts employers. But maybe meeting in the middle somewhere with a slight increase in pay for entry level jobs with a significant enough reduction in welfare for job-seekers might make the workforce preferable to doing nothing.


You put the blame on evil, evil leftists and poor people themselves.

"poor people themselves"? Oh, wait...you mean "poor" people who buy into the leftist agenda and "abuse" the system to sponge off people actually DOING something productive. People who are well aware of what they're doing, yes, I blame them. People who keep leftists in power, rich or poor, yes, I blame them.

But that's a double-edged sword. They're a significant part of perpetuating this cycle, yes, so the "fault" lies with them. BUT...at the same time I also recognize that they're being exploited and indoctrinated by leftists. I don't really blame poor people for attitudes they have when they haven't been shown better or given any hope for better. It's easy just to blame the rich for all their problems even though the rich have nothing to do with them. Rich people know that ALL people benefit when wealth is shared, when human capital is an investment, and when more people succeed and build wealth. If rich people know that they only benefit more when poor people succeed, why would they keep them poor? That makes no sense.

Who WOULD benefit by keeping people poor? Who stands to benefit the most from a permanent underclass?

Kraichgauer wrote:
But what about businesses that had never employed many people in rural areas, or who had deserted the inner cities with white flight? Are you going to hold businesses accountable for denying huge swaths of Americans? In the cases of inner cities, it was clearly racist business people who picked up and left. And when they do employ people, it's a matter of employers paying people as little as they can while working them as much as they can. Do you feel any outrage about that?


I don't think you know what you're talking about. Leftists and their policies are responsible for creating dependence on public housing projects. These are areas rife with gang violence, prostitution, drugs, etc. It's not safe for businesses to operate in high crime areas, especially with organized crime involved. Everyone knows that. To attract the best employees, businesses move where employers feel their employees and clientele will be safest and where the highest demand for goods and services are. Areas of urban decay and rural areas that are inhospitable to in-demand industries are not where these businesses can thrive.

I live in the Mississippi Delta. Greenville was once home to a thriving towboat industry. For a number of different reasons the shipbuilders were no longer profitable and they left. When they left, they took all the affluent people who made their fortunes in shipbuilding and working in the port with them. A large number of people fled to Madison, MS which went from being a barely visible speck on the map to a MAJOR suburb of Jackson.

What's in Madison? Not really anything special. Just a few short miles NORTH of Madison is Canton, which is the sight of a MASSIVE, sprawling Nissan plant. Madison is situated comfortably between the state capital and a quaint, non-progressive, small town that is otherwise a dying community.

Now, Canton HAS benefited greatly from the plant. The problem with Canton is a prevalence of leftist politics, same as what's happened in Greenville that has made it near impossible to do business there. Madison is a much more attractive location, which is why poor people will practically gamble the very shirts on their backs to move there. They're winning, too. Poor people in Greenville and Canton? It's just sad.

And when you stop and actually TALK to these people, you find just how far the left has gotten to them. They honestly believe that they've been forgotten. Over and over and over again I've heard politicians make all kinds of promises about bringing industries back. Year after year, and it seems things are only getting worse. But you keep hearing the same old rhetoric: "Vote for me! Vote for me!" And hold on. Wait. We can make it! Another year, another year, another election...

It's always the same old story.

After having been here a few years as a musician, I've met a lot of people and even drifted into local political circles. I've noticed something really interesting, and really telling, about the two parties here. Conservative Republicans have always been very nice and encouraging. And brutally honest when the time came. When someone announces they are retiring or not seeking reelection, they are all on the phone trying to find out what's happening. They aren't out for blood and power. They just don't believe in tearing down their friends. You never see this on TV when it comes to the big state and national races, but it's unreal how much they value relationships above political gain. They approach politics with a sense of conscience and duty. When you understand the inner workings of this system, you'll be dumbfounded as to why anybody would EVER WANT to run for any election. Which is why I have no doubts as to Trump's intentions in office. Power comes at a terrible price--to yourself, your family, your friends, your business. You cannot win without really wanting it, and the winners in politics, especially in conservative politics, are the ones who really want it more than anyone else.

Leftist politicians? Where I live, these guys act like mob bosses. I kid you not, you cannot run for anything without ASKING FOR FREAKIN PERMISSION. If you don't, if you don't work your way through the ranks, if you don't have the right friends, if they've already got their man picked out, they will harass and isolate you. One day you have a sizable law practice; the next day, your clients are dropping like flies. If you are a business owner (not likely, but IF), you suddenly have fewer customers. People who used to stop you on the street and talk to you suddenly don't recognize you or know who you are. Church attendance drops by half and a new church pops up across town. To the outsider looking in, it's WEIRD. You hear whisperings and mumblings and think this guy truly must be an evil person. Once you know how these circles run, it starts to make a weird sort of sense. Party bosses keep a death grip on power. If you aren't THEIR man, YOU DON'T RUN.

You might say, well, the Republicans have their "old boy's club" system. Maybe. But from what I've seen it's really an invitation to participate in the election process. A lot of these guys will run for office if no one else wants the job. They step aside when someone else they know wants the job because they know someone who is passionate about serving the community on the local and state level will do a much better job than someone who isn't.

And because of that, I think conservatives largely do a better job of serving the needs of our communities. They invite the businesses in and give them all the help they need to get up and running. They connect them with other business owners in the area. They introduce them to the law and accounting firms. Invite them to golf with the city councilman of their ward.

But if you're trying to get started on the "other" side of town, you have to talk to the right preacher, right lawyer, maybe even the right judge. If you don't get approval from these mobsters, you don't move forward.

The "good guys" you WANT who have the tools and resources to change the landscape of rural and urban decay CAN'T EVEN GET IN to make changes.

When my wife and I first got married and had our first baby on the way, we looked towards moving out of the apartment and buying a house. We were warned by a good friend knowledgeable of the area to stay on the south end of town. But we frequently found ourself driving along Main Street where there was this beautiful 3-story home for sale. I say "beautiful," but really it was a fixer-upper that needed a lot of work. We stopped by one day and the front door wasn't even locked. We let ourselves in and walked through. Huge gaping hole in the ground floor, windows broken out, some rotten boards here and there. But MOSTLY structurally sound. We really wanted that house, but there was just no way it would have worked for us.

Not too many years later, someone FINALLY bought it and fixed it up. It's a great house. What thrilled me was that someone with some money had the courage to buy it and give it the treatment it deserved.

Fast forward a few short MORE years...

Gentrification began along Main St. and Washington Ave. BIG TIME. Someone moved in and kicked out all the meth makers and drug dealers, totally gutted a building, and now there are two restaurants, a microbrewery, and a luxury hotel/apartment complex. The road was totally scraped off and repaved, whereas the first 5 or so years we lived here the place looked like downtown Baghdad. People are coming in and sticking it to the leftist mob bosses. There's been a lot of investment in tourism, and we have people coming in from all over the planet to explore the birthplace of the blues. We're a big stop for Mississippi River tourism. We have a Boston-qualifying marathon every year from Lake Village, Arkansas, to Greenville and runners are POURING in (I ran the half for the first time this year). We're courting employers to move here every chance we get, and while it's slow going, things are moving forward.

And it's all happening without approval from or thanks to the Mob.

So if you want to know where my outrage is... Why should I be outraged? Policies are changing. Incentives are growing. People are coming BACK. Things are slowly getting better. My outrage is firmly against the Mob bosses that are whipping the impoverished day after day after day with rhetoric and doing NOTHING to make things better. These "pastors," lawyers, and "community organizers" are fighting for Civil Rights, alright. Fighting to keep their slaves on the same plantation they've been on since the 1930's. Fighting to never let them forget what happened when the levee broke and who's REALLY in charge in the Delta. Fighting to keep them right where they were in the 1960's and during desegregation. Fighting to keep them holding on so hard to those old chains when we're right here with open arms begging them to rise from their misery and work alongside us to really make this city awesome they way so many of the older people remember it.

Racists? Please...

The only racists here are those who are stuck back in 1960's era identity politics. White flight? Cry me a freakin' river!
"Huge swaths" of minorities packed up and left with them, too. Or haven't you heard about the various migrations along the Mississippi River? I think I know more people where I live from Chicago than actually FROM the Delta. They fled to Memphis. They fled to St. Louis. They fled to Chicago. You know what they found? Gangs. Slum lords. Democratic Party mob bosses. Oh, oh...and RAAAAAAAAAAACISMMMMMMMM. So you know what they did? They came BACK! And they are THRIVING. You know what's happening to those who stayed? They're out taking pot shots at cops and acting all confused when someone shoots back and someone else ends up dead.

Now, you'll hear all kinds of things about race relations in the Delta. I'll be the first to admit that EVERYONE has a lot of work to do if we want that to improve.

But you know what is NOT happening in the Delta? People don't shoot at cops. Cops ENFORCE our local laws and PROTECT our communities, so they are NOT killing every black man, woman, or child on sight. Our people here respect law enforcement and own up to the fact that they are confronted only because they have behaved badly and broken a law. And white people don't waste any of their time criticizing people who live north of US Hwy 82. White people don't throw fits when a black family, a "mixed" family, a Latino family, or a Muslim family moves into the Lake Manor subdivision. White people in MY neighborhood don't go burning crosses in front of their black next-door neighbors, and black people here don't go around trashing the place. And NOBODY rolls up in our neighborhood to vandalize or steal things because, being a rough neighborhood, it's assumed we ALL, and I mean ALL (black, white, latino) of us are carrying various and sundry guns and half of us are crazy or our brains are fried.

The conservatives among us are trying to make things better and always HAVE been.

Where were the leftists during the great migrations?

Where were the community organizers when the big industries moved out?

Where were the lawyers? Where were the preachers?

What were they doing when they weren't out there trying to round up each and every one of them trying so hard to get away and escape to a better life?

What were the mob bosses doing when they weren't threatening their constituents to keep their heads down and mouths shut?

Because I know where they were. I know what they were doing. The organizers had everyone out rioting. The lawyers were busy keeping clients re-filing bankruptcy after bankruptcy like Chapter 13 is some kind of entitlement program. The preachers...holy crap...the preachers are out there forcing their congregants to turn in their check stubs so they can make sure that they're paying their required 10% so they can go to heaven. The mob bosses where living high on the hog off of bribes, tax revenue, grants, and any federal program they could get their grubby little hands on.

So...

Yeah, I get it. It's easy to blame big business. But you don't live where I live. You aren't down here in the trenches with these people the way I am. You don't know how destructive leftist policies have been for these people. You don't know what it's like being where the are, feeling trapped, and having NO IDEA that just making tiny little steps in the right direction makes all the difference in the world. A school guidance counselor SCREAMED at me once because I had the nerve to help a girl get into a publicly-funded residential visual and performing arts school. I've talked with kids who were distraught over college entrance exam scores not being high enough. Kids who were told by the same guidance counselor that they were only allowed to take the exams ONCE. Um...it hadn't been that many years since I took the exam, and I took the ACT the first time in 7th grade and at least twice a year from 9th grade on. WHY are they lying to these kids? Why focus on failing tech prep programs that do nothing for long-term success? Do they honestly not want kids going to college? Not even community college?

These people are not learning helplessness and hopelessness through personal experiences. Teachers and administrators are actively teaching them that.

I teach black kids, latinos, AND white kids that they have a choice. I teach them that they can choose to work hard and STAY here to better their circumstances and with that their community. I teach them that they can choose to leave and bring their experiences back home, same thing. And I teach them that they never have to return if they see no future in staying here. It's all up to them. They are in control. Not the mob bosses. Not the preachers with clammy hands they can't seem to keep off the young married women. Not the lawyers who keep you in debt and bankruptcy for your next meal. Not your politicians who make empty promises of more government programs coming our way. Not the teachers and administrators.

Each and every individual regardless of skin color, religion, sexual orientation/gender, how much money their parents had--every single one has control of his or her destiny.

And I will NOT point the finger at the businesses who are out there creating opportunities and inviting them in with open arms. I will NOT blame the businesses moving into the poor communities. I will NOT blame businesses and individuals for moving where they would find and create even more opportunity and benefit for the most amount of people.

And finally...remember how I mentioned Canton? You know what the leftists tried to do in Canton? They came out in droves from all over the country to protest and put pressure on Nissan to cave and allow the unions in. The workers...THE WORKERS said overwhelmingly NO. Because a lot of these people have been outside Mississippi and the south where leftist labor policies and labor unions have full sway. They know how the unions have singlehandedly run entire businesses into the ground. They knew they were getting a better deal when Nissan could be left alone to pay them what they felt the workers deserved. They know paying dues and getting no real benefit while their union overlords line their pockets is pointless and ultimately hurts the workers and the company that pays them. They've been there, too, and they refuse to go back to Egypt. And if you could see how these people in parts of Canton and all of Madison are living! The workers are raking in great money, and all sorts of industries have sprung up to support them. "Lifestyle centers" EVERYWHERE. It's amazing. Truly amazing.

Where's my outrage at white flight? Here's the thing: I'm somewhat stuck in the present but I'm steadily moving towards the future. I'm not stuck in the past. I don't worry about what "they" did, who "they" hurt. I'm concerned about what "they are DOING, who they are HELPING. I want to be where the winners are and I want to bring as many people as I can with me. I have hope for humanity. I have hope for my community. I have hope for the Delta. I don't have time for outrage, and it's pointless now. We are WINNING. Let's keep winning!


Well, not a single thing you've recited bares any resemblance to politics, poor people, business people, unions, gentrification, etc. here in Washington state. If you're happy in your Delta, then good for you, but in all honesty Mississippi is probably the last place someone in my part of the country would want to live, as the Pacific Northwest is the place where people come to in order to get away from someplace else.

Oh, riiiiiiiight.

Yeah, it’s called the “Great White North” for a reason. A lot of older Northerner liberals continue to be out of touch with the rest of the US. You heard someone’s talking points and assumed they were telling the truth rather than actually LIVING here and experiencing it for yourself.

The coolest thing about Mississippi is extremely low cost of living. Downside? Low income. All the old people live in places like Amory and other small towns around the Golden Triangle and Oxford. Horn Lake, Hernando, and Southaven are super nice and are close to Memphis. I’m originally from the central Mississippi area, near Carthage. Philadelphia is nice, and you have the Neshoba County Fair at the end of July. We used to go every few Saturdays to North Jackson and Ridgeland shopping. It’s not what it used to be with everything moving to Madison. But at least we have a Guitar Center. Flowood and Lakeland Drive have really exploded in the last two decades.

There’s also Natchez and Vicksburg with all the antebellum homes. Hattiesburg is a really cool town. Lots of liberals there, you’d love it. The Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula area is kinda nice, but terrible beaches. I LOVE going out to Ship Island. Plenty of black sand beach to explore.

The Delta is kinda neat. It’s a better place to visit than live, TBH. The kinda place everyone is from but nobody goes back to live. Awful public schools. Unless you have a burning desire for agriculture, there’s just not much here. People love it more for the history. There was a time when Greenville was a major location. Now it’s like a ghost town on the weekends. And it’s not even a college town.

The folk art here is second to none as is the food. People run their mouths about how Mississippi people are so fat. Well, have you ever had the food? Time is perceived differently here, too, and combined with the humidity and CRAZY heat, people move slow and don’t really want to do much.

We’ve had such problems with our A/C we just gave up on repairs. We try to keep busy outdoors during the day and run fans at night. I like to move my race training to the hottest part of the day, so I’m well-adjusted to it. Most Mississippi people can’t stand to be without their precious A/C, so it’s torture even for most of us. But you CAN get used to it and it’s not really that bad.

Anyway...you want fried chicken, fried catfish, and fried okra while you’re here. Chinese catfish largely put our farmers out of business, so hopefully we might be up for another catfish boom with protective tariffs. Delta raised catfish really is the best.

I’m leaving out a lot, but it’s been a long day. I put in about 9 miles total today and still had choir practice. I’m tired.



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16 May 2018, 10:27 pm

Arganger wrote:
Chummy wrote:
Arganger wrote:
Chummy wrote:
America and Evil, two words that are as far from one another as the Sun is from Saturn. Go live in Sudan, Iran or Syria and try to evaluate (that is - if you survive) how much they contributed to the human race in medicine, agriculture, technology and science. Let me save you the trouble - the answer is - none.

Seriously bro, the world is not black/white. If you think Slavery and all other things listed were invented in America well you're wrong. Everywhere in the world had Slavery at some point, it is definitely not an "American" thing. In fact the only reason why slavery is often mentioned in relation to America is Ethnocentrism (however almost nobody remembers there were human slavery markets in Saudi Arabia till the 1960s and women were not allowed to vote till very recently).

Instead of thinking oh this and that is evil I suggest every private citizen will try to minimize his/her own bad deeds and do as much good as possible instead.


That is an unnecessary and unhelpful reply. Anyway, eugenics did actually originate in America, and the fact that other countries also did/do evil doesn't make what America has done okay.


It's unhelpful to you, because you are not capable enough to comprehend it. I said slavery did not start in America and was present in ancient times even before the Roman Empire. And you contradict me by saying eugenics "started in America"? rofl this is an argument for the sake of arguing, since obviously slavery wasn't about eugenics (which obviously isn't an evil too anway -, only when Hilter came he twisted this theory to fit his own agenda. Does Hilter ruling Germany during WW2 makes Germany an evil country? NO. At the time yes, but not as a whole definition) You clearly missed the point. If you look only at the evil stuff countries like America, Britian, Japan etc etc had done in the past hundreds of years, you could have easily said everyone is evil therefore this is a worthless discussion.

Not sure why am I taking the time to educate you, but no problem.


This is about more than slavery, and even though slavery was common elsewhere it was still evil and America still did it. And what the heck? Do you know how many people were forcibly sterilized and traumatized by eugenics? 70,000. 70,000, impoverished, disabled, black, Hispanic, and/or criminals.

America was nearly as bad in the way they treated the disabled as the nazis.

Everyone IS evil, part of the point of this is to remind people of that.

Well, yeah, everyone IS evil. No argument here. The best human relations tactics embrace this fact from the outset.

It's really selfishness that drives it. There's no escape from it.

But it's also what ultimately saves us. If you understand that one's motive is for their own purpose and set of values, then you can exploit that to get what you need from other people. Everyone does it. You have money that you don't really want to part with, but you need groceries in order to survive. The guy at the grocery has plenty of food but not much use for it, but needs your money to get things he DOES need. You give up a little money to get food, he gives up his food to get money for other things. If he didn't want money to serve his own interests, and if you didn't want food to feed yourself, you'd both lose.

Where this all turns around for the good is that people don't just value money and things money can buy. They value each other. They care about other people FOR THEIR OWN REASONS. And some people value others enough to kill for them or even put their OWN lives on the line for them. It's still selfish. But the end result is mutual benefit.

So, yes, everyone is evil. But there's plenty of room for hope. I still have faith that people value each other enough to be excellent to one another. It may seem like a pessimistic way of looking at things, but I really am hopeful.



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17 May 2018, 12:00 am

AngelRho wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
AngelRho wrote:
I have no problem with government programs for those who need them. I have a problem with government creating dependency on programs.

I don’t have a problem with single mothers on welfare. I have a problem with single mothers and grandmothers living 15 to a house in deplorable conditions so they can live work-free. And they teach their daughters to get pregnant and continue the cycle. They even pimp them out to their uncles and cousins. Do NOT tell me this doesn’t happen. I used to work for a lawyer who made most of his money keeping the impoverished in bankruptcy, plus most of my teaching career has been among the underprivileged. I have seen it, touched it, SMELLED it. Do NOT tell me these poor people are somehow better off dependent on the government from cradle to grave. Leftist exploitation of these people in exchange for power is SICKENING.

I have no problem whatsoever supporting widows, and even more so if their husbands died in combat.

I have no problem supporting children whose own parents cannot for whatever reason adequately raise them. I don’t mean POOR. I mean abusive, mentally ill, etc.

But I DO have a BIG problem with corrupt, power-trip DHS social workers ripping kids from their parents without so much as due process. I have a BIG problem with foster parents who run their homes like some kind of business where kids run unsupervised, perpetuating cycles of abuse on younger children. I have a BIG problem with how these kids get inadequate education and are unable to care for themselves once they age out of the system.

I do not have a problem helping the disabled.

I DO have a problem with keeping the disabled drugged up and homebound when they want to at least TRY to contribute positively, and maybe they have SOME ability to do just that. People who want to continue to work doing what they enjoy but CANNOT because doing so would mean they’d lose the only margin they have in benefits. In other words, it’s a system that actually punishes people for even trying.

I do not think so-called “income inequality” is a big deal because productive people deserve to be rewarded on the basis of what they do.

I have a HUGE problem in the gap between welfare payouts and comparable entry-level wages that, over time, would lead to something that would genuinely help people get back on their feet after a personal economic crisis. The over abundance of government assistance creates dependency. I don’t think I’ll ever see a good resolution to this problem, because a government min wage mandate hurts employers. But maybe meeting in the middle somewhere with a slight increase in pay for entry level jobs with a significant enough reduction in welfare for job-seekers might make the workforce preferable to doing nothing.


You put the blame on evil, evil leftists and poor people themselves.

"poor people themselves"? Oh, wait...you mean "poor" people who buy into the leftist agenda and "abuse" the system to sponge off people actually DOING something productive. People who are well aware of what they're doing, yes, I blame them. People who keep leftists in power, rich or poor, yes, I blame them.

But that's a double-edged sword. They're a significant part of perpetuating this cycle, yes, so the "fault" lies with them. BUT...at the same time I also recognize that they're being exploited and indoctrinated by leftists. I don't really blame poor people for attitudes they have when they haven't been shown better or given any hope for better. It's easy just to blame the rich for all their problems even though the rich have nothing to do with them. Rich people know that ALL people benefit when wealth is shared, when human capital is an investment, and when more people succeed and build wealth. If rich people know that they only benefit more when poor people succeed, why would they keep them poor? That makes no sense.

Who WOULD benefit by keeping people poor? Who stands to benefit the most from a permanent underclass?

Kraichgauer wrote:
But what about businesses that had never employed many people in rural areas, or who had deserted the inner cities with white flight? Are you going to hold businesses accountable for denying huge swaths of Americans? In the cases of inner cities, it was clearly racist business people who picked up and left. And when they do employ people, it's a matter of employers paying people as little as they can while working them as much as they can. Do you feel any outrage about that?


I don't think you know what you're talking about. Leftists and their policies are responsible for creating dependence on public housing projects. These are areas rife with gang violence, prostitution, drugs, etc. It's not safe for businesses to operate in high crime areas, especially with organized crime involved. Everyone knows that. To attract the best employees, businesses move where employers feel their employees and clientele will be safest and where the highest demand for goods and services are. Areas of urban decay and rural areas that are inhospitable to in-demand industries are not where these businesses can thrive.

I live in the Mississippi Delta. Greenville was once home to a thriving towboat industry. For a number of different reasons the shipbuilders were no longer profitable and they left. When they left, they took all the affluent people who made their fortunes in shipbuilding and working in the port with them. A large number of people fled to Madison, MS which went from being a barely visible speck on the map to a MAJOR suburb of Jackson.

What's in Madison? Not really anything special. Just a few short miles NORTH of Madison is Canton, which is the sight of a MASSIVE, sprawling Nissan plant. Madison is situated comfortably between the state capital and a quaint, non-progressive, small town that is otherwise a dying community.

Now, Canton HAS benefited greatly from the plant. The problem with Canton is a prevalence of leftist politics, same as what's happened in Greenville that has made it near impossible to do business there. Madison is a much more attractive location, which is why poor people will practically gamble the very shirts on their backs to move there. They're winning, too. Poor people in Greenville and Canton? It's just sad.

And when you stop and actually TALK to these people, you find just how far the left has gotten to them. They honestly believe that they've been forgotten. Over and over and over again I've heard politicians make all kinds of promises about bringing industries back. Year after year, and it seems things are only getting worse. But you keep hearing the same old rhetoric: "Vote for me! Vote for me!" And hold on. Wait. We can make it! Another year, another year, another election...

It's always the same old story.

After having been here a few years as a musician, I've met a lot of people and even drifted into local political circles. I've noticed something really interesting, and really telling, about the two parties here. Conservative Republicans have always been very nice and encouraging. And brutally honest when the time came. When someone announces they are retiring or not seeking reelection, they are all on the phone trying to find out what's happening. They aren't out for blood and power. They just don't believe in tearing down their friends. You never see this on TV when it comes to the big state and national races, but it's unreal how much they value relationships above political gain. They approach politics with a sense of conscience and duty. When you understand the inner workings of this system, you'll be dumbfounded as to why anybody would EVER WANT to run for any election. Which is why I have no doubts as to Trump's intentions in office. Power comes at a terrible price--to yourself, your family, your friends, your business. You cannot win without really wanting it, and the winners in politics, especially in conservative politics, are the ones who really want it more than anyone else.

Leftist politicians? Where I live, these guys act like mob bosses. I kid you not, you cannot run for anything without ASKING FOR FREAKIN PERMISSION. If you don't, if you don't work your way through the ranks, if you don't have the right friends, if they've already got their man picked out, they will harass and isolate you. One day you have a sizable law practice; the next day, your clients are dropping like flies. If you are a business owner (not likely, but IF), you suddenly have fewer customers. People who used to stop you on the street and talk to you suddenly don't recognize you or know who you are. Church attendance drops by half and a new church pops up across town. To the outsider looking in, it's WEIRD. You hear whisperings and mumblings and think this guy truly must be an evil person. Once you know how these circles run, it starts to make a weird sort of sense. Party bosses keep a death grip on power. If you aren't THEIR man, YOU DON'T RUN.

You might say, well, the Republicans have their "old boy's club" system. Maybe. But from what I've seen it's really an invitation to participate in the election process. A lot of these guys will run for office if no one else wants the job. They step aside when someone else they know wants the job because they know someone who is passionate about serving the community on the local and state level will do a much better job than someone who isn't.

And because of that, I think conservatives largely do a better job of serving the needs of our communities. They invite the businesses in and give them all the help they need to get up and running. They connect them with other business owners in the area. They introduce them to the law and accounting firms. Invite them to golf with the city councilman of their ward.

But if you're trying to get started on the "other" side of town, you have to talk to the right preacher, right lawyer, maybe even the right judge. If you don't get approval from these mobsters, you don't move forward.

The "good guys" you WANT who have the tools and resources to change the landscape of rural and urban decay CAN'T EVEN GET IN to make changes.

When my wife and I first got married and had our first baby on the way, we looked towards moving out of the apartment and buying a house. We were warned by a good friend knowledgeable of the area to stay on the south end of town. But we frequently found ourself driving along Main Street where there was this beautiful 3-story home for sale. I say "beautiful," but really it was a fixer-upper that needed a lot of work. We stopped by one day and the front door wasn't even locked. We let ourselves in and walked through. Huge gaping hole in the ground floor, windows broken out, some rotten boards here and there. But MOSTLY structurally sound. We really wanted that house, but there was just no way it would have worked for us.

Not too many years later, someone FINALLY bought it and fixed it up. It's a great house. What thrilled me was that someone with some money had the courage to buy it and give it the treatment it deserved.

Fast forward a few short MORE years...

Gentrification began along Main St. and Washington Ave. BIG TIME. Someone moved in and kicked out all the meth makers and drug dealers, totally gutted a building, and now there are two restaurants, a microbrewery, and a luxury hotel/apartment complex. The road was totally scraped off and repaved, whereas the first 5 or so years we lived here the place looked like downtown Baghdad. People are coming in and sticking it to the leftist mob bosses. There's been a lot of investment in tourism, and we have people coming in from all over the planet to explore the birthplace of the blues. We're a big stop for Mississippi River tourism. We have a Boston-qualifying marathon every year from Lake Village, Arkansas, to Greenville and runners are POURING in (I ran the half for the first time this year). We're courting employers to move here every chance we get, and while it's slow going, things are moving forward.

And it's all happening without approval from or thanks to the Mob.

So if you want to know where my outrage is... Why should I be outraged? Policies are changing. Incentives are growing. People are coming BACK. Things are slowly getting better. My outrage is firmly against the Mob bosses that are whipping the impoverished day after day after day with rhetoric and doing NOTHING to make things better. These "pastors," lawyers, and "community organizers" are fighting for Civil Rights, alright. Fighting to keep their slaves on the same plantation they've been on since the 1930's. Fighting to never let them forget what happened when the levee broke and who's REALLY in charge in the Delta. Fighting to keep them right where they were in the 1960's and during desegregation. Fighting to keep them holding on so hard to those old chains when we're right here with open arms begging them to rise from their misery and work alongside us to really make this city awesome they way so many of the older people remember it.

Racists? Please...

The only racists here are those who are stuck back in 1960's era identity politics. White flight? Cry me a freakin' river!
"Huge swaths" of minorities packed up and left with them, too. Or haven't you heard about the various migrations along the Mississippi River? I think I know more people where I live from Chicago than actually FROM the Delta. They fled to Memphis. They fled to St. Louis. They fled to Chicago. You know what they found? Gangs. Slum lords. Democratic Party mob bosses. Oh, oh...and RAAAAAAAAAAACISMMMMMMMM. So you know what they did? They came BACK! And they are THRIVING. You know what's happening to those who stayed? They're out taking pot shots at cops and acting all confused when someone shoots back and someone else ends up dead.

Now, you'll hear all kinds of things about race relations in the Delta. I'll be the first to admit that EVERYONE has a lot of work to do if we want that to improve.

But you know what is NOT happening in the Delta? People don't shoot at cops. Cops ENFORCE our local laws and PROTECT our communities, so they are NOT killing every black man, woman, or child on sight. Our people here respect law enforcement and own up to the fact that they are confronted only because they have behaved badly and broken a law. And white people don't waste any of their time criticizing people who live north of US Hwy 82. White people don't throw fits when a black family, a "mixed" family, a Latino family, or a Muslim family moves into the Lake Manor subdivision. White people in MY neighborhood don't go burning crosses in front of their black next-door neighbors, and black people here don't go around trashing the place. And NOBODY rolls up in our neighborhood to vandalize or steal things because, being a rough neighborhood, it's assumed we ALL, and I mean ALL (black, white, latino) of us are carrying various and sundry guns and half of us are crazy or our brains are fried.

The conservatives among us are trying to make things better and always HAVE been.

Where were the leftists during the great migrations?

Where were the community organizers when the big industries moved out?

Where were the lawyers? Where were the preachers?

What were they doing when they weren't out there trying to round up each and every one of them trying so hard to get away and escape to a better life?

What were the mob bosses doing when they weren't threatening their constituents to keep their heads down and mouths shut?

Because I know where they were. I know what they were doing. The organizers had everyone out rioting. The lawyers were busy keeping clients re-filing bankruptcy after bankruptcy like Chapter 13 is some kind of entitlement program. The preachers...holy crap...the preachers are out there forcing their congregants to turn in their check stubs so they can make sure that they're paying their required 10% so they can go to heaven. The mob bosses where living high on the hog off of bribes, tax revenue, grants, and any federal program they could get their grubby little hands on.

So...

Yeah, I get it. It's easy to blame big business. But you don't live where I live. You aren't down here in the trenches with these people the way I am. You don't know how destructive leftist policies have been for these people. You don't know what it's like being where the are, feeling trapped, and having NO IDEA that just making tiny little steps in the right direction makes all the difference in the world. A school guidance counselor SCREAMED at me once because I had the nerve to help a girl get into a publicly-funded residential visual and performing arts school. I've talked with kids who were distraught over college entrance exam scores not being high enough. Kids who were told by the same guidance counselor that they were only allowed to take the exams ONCE. Um...it hadn't been that many years since I took the exam, and I took the ACT the first time in 7th grade and at least twice a year from 9th grade on. WHY are they lying to these kids? Why focus on failing tech prep programs that do nothing for long-term success? Do they honestly not want kids going to college? Not even community college?

These people are not learning helplessness and hopelessness through personal experiences. Teachers and administrators are actively teaching them that.

I teach black kids, latinos, AND white kids that they have a choice. I teach them that they can choose to work hard and STAY here to better their circumstances and with that their community. I teach them that they can choose to leave and bring their experiences back home, same thing. And I teach them that they never have to return if they see no future in staying here. It's all up to them. They are in control. Not the mob bosses. Not the preachers with clammy hands they can't seem to keep off the young married women. Not the lawyers who keep you in debt and bankruptcy for your next meal. Not your politicians who make empty promises of more government programs coming our way. Not the teachers and administrators.

Each and every individual regardless of skin color, religion, sexual orientation/gender, how much money their parents had--every single one has control of his or her destiny.

And I will NOT point the finger at the businesses who are out there creating opportunities and inviting them in with open arms. I will NOT blame the businesses moving into the poor communities. I will NOT blame businesses and individuals for moving where they would find and create even more opportunity and benefit for the most amount of people.

And finally...remember how I mentioned Canton? You know what the leftists tried to do in Canton? They came out in droves from all over the country to protest and put pressure on Nissan to cave and allow the unions in. The workers...THE WORKERS said overwhelmingly NO. Because a lot of these people have been outside Mississippi and the south where leftist labor policies and labor unions have full sway. They know how the unions have singlehandedly run entire businesses into the ground. They knew they were getting a better deal when Nissan could be left alone to pay them what they felt the workers deserved. They know paying dues and getting no real benefit while their union overlords line their pockets is pointless and ultimately hurts the workers and the company that pays them. They've been there, too, and they refuse to go back to Egypt. And if you could see how these people in parts of Canton and all of Madison are living! The workers are raking in great money, and all sorts of industries have sprung up to support them. "Lifestyle centers" EVERYWHERE. It's amazing. Truly amazing.

Where's my outrage at white flight? Here's the thing: I'm somewhat stuck in the present but I'm steadily moving towards the future. I'm not stuck in the past. I don't worry about what "they" did, who "they" hurt. I'm concerned about what "they are DOING, who they are HELPING. I want to be where the winners are and I want to bring as many people as I can with me. I have hope for humanity. I have hope for my community. I have hope for the Delta. I don't have time for outrage, and it's pointless now. We are WINNING. Let's keep winning!


Well, not a single thing you've recited bares any resemblance to politics, poor people, business people, unions, gentrification, etc. here in Washington state. If you're happy in your Delta, then good for you, but in all honesty Mississippi is probably the last place someone in my part of the country would want to live, as the Pacific Northwest is the place where people come to in order to get away from someplace else.

Oh, riiiiiiiight.

Yeah, it’s called the “Great White North” for a reason. A lot of older Northerner liberals continue to be out of touch with the rest of the US. You heard someone’s talking points and assumed they were telling the truth rather than actually LIVING here and experiencing it for yourself.

The coolest thing about Mississippi is extremely low cost of living. Downside? Low income. All the old people live in places like Amory and other small towns around the Golden Triangle and Oxford. Horn Lake, Hernando, and Southaven are super nice and are close to Memphis. I’m originally from the central Mississippi area, near Carthage. Philadelphia is nice, and you have the Neshoba County Fair at the end of July. We used to go every few Saturdays to North Jackson and Ridgeland shopping. It’s not what it used to be with everything moving to Madison. But at least we have a Guitar Center. Flowood and Lakeland Drive have really exploded in the last two decades.

There’s also Natchez and Vicksburg with all the antebellum homes. Hattiesburg is a really cool town. Lots of liberals there, you’d love it. The Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula area is kinda nice, but terrible beaches. I LOVE going out to Ship Island. Plenty of black sand beach to explore.

The Delta is kinda neat. It’s a better place to visit than live, TBH. The kinda place everyone is from but nobody goes back to live. Awful public schools. Unless you have a burning desire for agriculture, there’s just not much here. People love it more for the history. There was a time when Greenville was a major location. Now it’s like a ghost town on the weekends. And it’s not even a college town.

The folk art here is second to none as is the food. People run their mouths about how Mississippi people are so fat. Well, have you ever had the food? Time is perceived differently here, too, and combined with the humidity and CRAZY heat, people move slow and don’t really want to do much.

We’ve had such problems with our A/C we just gave up on repairs. We try to keep busy outdoors during the day and run fans at night. I like to move my race training to the hottest part of the day, so I’m well-adjusted to it. Most Mississippi people can’t stand to be without their precious A/C, so it’s torture even for most of us. But you CAN get used to it and it’s not really that bad.

Anyway...you want fried chicken, fried catfish, and fried okra while you’re here. Chinese catfish largely put our farmers out of business, so hopefully we might be up for another catfish boom with protective tariffs. Delta raised catfish really is the best.

I’m leaving out a lot, but it’s been a long day. I put in about 9 miles total today and still had choir practice. I’m tired.


Think more of the Golden West, though we have some of the great White North in us, too.
I'm happy with western values like live-and-let-live tolerance, being spiritual rather than religious, with a laid back lifestyle.


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collectoritis
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19 May 2018, 7:43 am

Im sure theres worse places to live than Iran , not saying its paradise though



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22 May 2018, 1:04 pm

Yes, America is a horrible place. We live on rats and sawdust bread, and sometimes... on each other. At night, the pyres for the dead light up the sky. It's medieval.


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24 May 2018, 1:48 am

Taradine wrote:
most of these things are hardly exclusive to america, and i would even argue that britain was worse in some respects.

and you cannot be serious if you actually think america inspired the nazis. if that's true, then i guess every other european country in the 20s and 30s inspired the nazis too, because pretty much all of them had some sort of racist, fascist and/or irridentist movement going on at the time, the losers of WWI especially.


America is a direct extension to the British culture, and its imperial culture in particular. Independence was just political.



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26 May 2018, 7:21 am

That's right! America inspired the Nazis. The Nazis were also big fans of the British-- for any of you Anglophiles out there.