Category Archives: The South

April 12, 2011 · 11:48 pm

150 Years Later, Tea Partiers Still Aren’t Over The Civil War

Unbelievable….

But not really…

I could have guessed this of the Tea Party and most of the GOP…

More like sad, but true….

From ThinkProgress.org:

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War’s beginning, when secessionists fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. According to a new poll from CNN, the Civil War’s legacy remains unresolved. The poll finds that Republicans and Tea Party supporters are more likely to support the Confederacy and confederate leaders than Democrats or Independents.

According to the poll, nearly one in four Americans sympathize with the Confederacy more than with the Union. That number grows to nearly four-in-ten among white Southerners. Among Tea Party members, 26 percent sympathize with the Confederacy more than the Union, and that number grows to 28 percent among Republicans.

via ThinkProgress » 150 Years Later, Tea Partiers Still Aren’t Over The Civil War.

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March 25, 2011 · 3:55 pm

Many U.S. Blacks Moving to South, Reversing Trend

Fascinating article on the front page of today’s New York Times…

It will be interesting to see the political implications of this new migration…

Hopefully, this will help reduce the GOP’s hold on the South….

The percentage of the nation’s black population living in the South has hit its highest point in half a century, according to census data released Thursday, as younger and more educated black residents move out of declining cities in the Northeast and Midwest in search of better opportunities.

The Rev. Ronald Peters, above, who moved last year from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, said the black middle class was more hopeful in the South than in the Northeast.

The share of black population growth that has occurred in the South over the past decade — the highest since 1910, before the Great Migration of blacks to the North — has upended some long-held assumptions.

Both Michigan and Illinois, whose cities have rich black cultural traditions, showed an overall loss of blacks for the first time, said William Frey, the chief demographer at the Brookings Institution.

And Atlanta, for the first time, has replaced Chicago as the metro area with the largest number of African-Americans after New York. About 17 percent of blacks who moved to the South in the past decade left New York State, far more than from any other state, the census data show.

At the same time, blacks have begun leaving cities for more affluent suburbs in large numbers, much like generations of whites before them.

“The notion of the North and its cities as the promised land has been a powerful part of African-American life, culture and history, and now it all seems to be passing by,” said Clement Price, a professor of history at Rutgers-Newark. “The black urban experience has essentially lost its appeal with blacks in America.”

via Many U.S. Blacks Moving to South, Reversing Trend – NYTimes.com.

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Filed under Elections, Journalism, Social Commentary, The South

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March 16, 2011 · 7:44 pm

Forever Prep: Virginia Living Magazine Feature Shot at Sweet Briar College- and some other school

There is a photo spread in this month’s “Virginia Living” magazine called “Forever Prep.”

For  those who don’t know, the Virginia  college circuit is the epicenter of Prep in Virginia and the South.

There is an article in the “paper” magazine also that talks about the Virginia Prep lifestyle of the 1980’s that I and many of my friends were part of at Sweet Briar, Washington and Lee, Mary Baldwin, Hollins, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and UVa….and how it translates to today’s world.

It’s  also a reference to “True Prep” that came out late last year and the 30th Anniversary of the “Official Preppy Handbook”.

The photo’s were shot at Sweet Briar College and Hampden-Sydney…

Sweet Briar makes perfect sense, but Hampden Sydney???

This Washington and Lee Man may have to cancel his subscription….

And I do have a subscription…

It’s a sickness…

Here is the Link: http://www.virginialiving.com/downloads/slideshows/274/slides/0/index.html

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March 5, 2011 · 12:53 pm

Chapter 52: Sex in the South: Part 2- The Queen of the South | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on my other blog, MySouthernGothicLife.com….

Here’s a brief excerpt and a link to the full post…

Like fashion, new movies, ethnic food and just about everything else, the Sexual Revolution came late to Danville, Virginia.

However, given the sexually repressive atmosphere, it should be no surprise it led the way in one area:  Outdoor Porn Drive In Theaters.

via Chapter 52: Sex in the South: Part 2- The Queen of the South | My Southern Gothic Life.

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Filed under Entertainment, History, Movies, My Journey, Scott's Commentary, Style, The South, Virginia

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March 4, 2011 · 7:43 am

Chapter 51: Sex in the South: Part 1- Setting the Stage | My Southern Gothic Life

There is a new post up on my other blog:  My SouthernGothicLife.com

Here is the intro and a link to the full post:

To put it bluntly, when we were growing up, we knew sex was everywhere in the South.  It was poorly hidden, but not a topic of socially approved conversations.   Or at least it once wasn’t…

We came from, perhaps, the last generation to be fed totally screwed up information about sex.  At least, I hope so…

MORE:   Chapter 51: Sex in the South: Part 1- Setting the Stage | My Southern Gothic Life.

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March 1, 2011 · 7:36 pm

John Edwards Is Out of Sight, but Not for Long – NYTimes.com

The next chapter of this sad saga is yet to come….

This is an unending soap opera….

Almost a Shakespearean tragedy…

Or at least, a modern “Dynasty”….

Or probably more like “Flamingo Road”….

Over the past few weeks, people in this tight-knit university community have not seen much of John Edwards.

They used to. He would hang out on a metal stool at Bowbarr, a short walk from the environmentally friendly condominium complex where he moved after details of an extramarital affair sent him from the family home.

He would swing into Crook’s Corner, a legendary Southern restaurant, for an order of fried oysters to go, talking to anyone around and looking like the polished but approachable Democratic presidential candidate he once was.

After his estranged wife, Elizabeth Edwards, died of cancer in early December, the chef at Crook’s Corner, Bill Smith, would slip in an extra dessert for their children.

“We all just feel for him, no matter what he’s done,” Mr. Smith said. “And you know there is more to come.”

That “more” is the possibility that a federal grand jury in Raleigh could soon hand up an indictment against him in a case centering on campaign finance practices.

One issue is whether Mr. Edwards knew that some of the millions of dollars given by at least two wealthy donors was being used to help support — and hide, some contend — Rielle Hunter, the campaign videographer with whom he had a prolonged affair, and the daughter they conceived.

The money used to support Ms. Hunter could be considered campaign contributions if prosecutors can show that Mr. Edwards helped orchestrate donations for that purpose, or that he knew the money would be used to keep the affair hidden so it would not hurt his 2008 presidential candidacy.

Much More:   John Edwards Is Out of Sight, but Not for Long – NYTimes.com.

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February 28, 2011 · 7:53 pm

Raleigh No. 3 in Gay Parents – NewsObserver.com

This kind of blows the old Jesse Helms image of North Carolina to hell…

Thank God!

From the Raleigh News and Observer:

Raleigh is one of the highest-ranked metropolitan areas in the nation for gay parents. Nearly one-third of the same-sex couples who live here are raising children under the age of 18.

The American Community Survey says Raleigh has the third-highest percentage of same-sex couples with kids among metro areas that have a population of more than 1 million. San Antonio is first, with 33.9 percent of same-sex couples raising children, and Jacksonville, Fla., is second, with 32.4 percent.

Southern cities tended to rank high in the survey, which was conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and used population and housing data collected between 2005 and 2009.

Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at UCLA Law School, said he thinks the traditionally conservative South has more gay parents because people in the region tend to come out later in life, often after marrying and having children in heterosexual relationships.

Some cities with the highest concentrations of gays, such as San Francisco, aren’t ranked that high when it comes to same-sex couples with children, Gates said.

Ian Palmquist, executive director of Equality North Carolina, a gay rights organization, was not surprised to hear Raleigh ranked so high.

“Gay people from the more rural communities move to the Triangle because it is much more friendly and more supportive,” he said. “We know there are many same-sex couples raising children in North Carolina.”

Palmquist added that the same things that make North Carolina appealing to heterosexual couples also make it a good choice for same-sex couples.

via Raleigh No. 3 in gay parents – Family – NewsObserver.com.

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February 17, 2011 · 8:19 pm

ISS – ‘Respect my Vote’: Backlash grows against voter ID push

This is just another back door way to suppress Democratic voters…

And if the GOP is so worried about  cutting spending, this is not a cheap initiative…

Emphasis is mine….

When Republicans launched campaigns in 20 states this year for laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls, they likely saw it as a chance to score a quick political victory on one of their favorite causes.

But the GOP’s urgent and coordinated push is encountering growing resistance, led by citizens who fear they could be disenfranchised by new barriers to voting, as well as election officials who balk at the price tag of a costly new government program.

This week in North Carolina, voting rights advocates — holding signs reading “Stop Photo ID, Respect My Vote” — descended on the legislature to oppose a bill Republicans plan to introduce next week.

The diverse group reflected the range of N.C. voters who could be affected — seniors, students, the disabled and low-income and homeless citizens who may not have photo ID cards. Rep. William Brisson (D) called the measure a “slap in the face” to his largely rural district in Bladen County:

“It involves about 35 percent of my voters. These are people who still feel like they are part of this world and want to vote, even though they are in long-term care homes and might not have photo IDs. These are people this is just a direct impact on.”

via ISS – ‘Respect my Vote’: Backlash grows against voter ID push.

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February 14, 2011 · 5:56 pm

10 States With the Worst Eating Habits | | AlterNet

Very interesting article…

Funny how the worst states are the mainly very Republican states.  I wonder about that correlation….

Americans are fat and getting fatter by the year. Recent data reported in medical journal Lancet showed that BMI (Body Mass Index), a recognized measurement of obesity, is higher on average in America than in any other nation.

The obesity problem, however, is international. The report in Lancet states that “In 2008, 9.8 percent of the world’s male population were obese, as were 13.8 percent of women. In 1980, these rates were 4.8 percent and 7.9 percent.” US eating habits and diets have been exported, many experts say. Nations which before had relatively lean diets which were high in grains and fruits  now consume many more soft drinks and hamburgers.

This trend toward poorer diets has caused obesity to be the most written-about health problem in the United States. Fat Americans are more likely to have diabetes, coronary artery disease, strokes, and certain forms of cancer. Less well reported are links between obesity and dementia, obesity and postmenopausal estrogen receptors, and obesity and social status. Thin people, apparently, are more likely to be chief executives and billionaires. The problem of obesity is so acute that the number of studies about its causes and solutions grows by the day. The journal Health Affairs reported last year that overall obesity-related health spending reaches $147 billion in the US, about double what it was a decade earlier.

More:   10 States With the Worst Eating Habits | | AlterNet.

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February 13, 2011 · 12:18 pm

Decision on Indicting Edwards Coming Soon

Waiting for the next chapter in this sad soap opera….

Former Sen. John Edwards “testified earlier this week in a civil lawsuit his former mistress brought against a former aide over a purported sex tape involving the politician and mistress,” WRAL-TV reports. “No details have been released about Edwards’ deposition, but it could be of interest to federal investigators looking into possible criminal activity involving campaign funds during his 2008 presidential run.”

The station has also reports that “the criminal case is wrapping up, and federal prosecutors could announce whether they will indict Edwards on criminal charges in late February to early March.”

via Decision on Indicting Edwards Coming Soon.

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