"Who the hell wants to live in Mississippi" - Charlie Rangel

[BOSSHOG]

Ole Charlie said that recently being frustrated about the disparity of federal funds some states get over others. Mississippi gets 1.77 of federal funds for every dollar it sends to Washington. Rangel's state of New York gets back .79 for every dollar sent. (So the self sufficient red states gets lots of federal handouts - not very conservative huh.) Of course, ole Charlie eventually apologized and that has been the big story in the state for the past 48 hours.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/16015128.htm

We live in Mississippi (the number one reason <only reason?> is my wife has a very good job with a nice pension within grasp.)

Well lets take a look at this state chock full of good christian conservatives:

- highest rate of teen pregnancy (values anyone?)
- highest rate of infant mortality (don't need no stinking medical advances)
- highest rate of high school dropouts (don't value education)
- highest rate of obesity and diabetes
- lowest rate of college graduates
--- and I can attest to the incredible amount of trash along the highways. No doubt from all the tourists flocking to the state

Great question Charlie - WHO THE HELL WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN MISSISSIPPI?

[HaggardsMethDealer]

1. Mississippi is a hellhole.

I was there not to long ago and it sucked royally.

[niallmac]

2. It's fun to spell though.

Never been there.

[BOSSHOG]

6. If you are coming from the east

its a great place to stop and pee before you get to Louisiana. I love the Boise State Football field. Always catch their games on TV, just for the field.

[niallmac]

32. The Blue Astro Turf is an attempt to take attention away

from our politicians.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Hello HMD and welcome to DU

You should read the letters to the editor in the papers praising Mississippi about how great it is and how wonderful and god fearing and loving and caring and kinds its citizens are. Great comedic relief.

[bigwillq]

20. Hi!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

I like your scree name! :bounce:

[Dr.Phool]

4. If it weren't for Miss. Florida would be number 1!

[sarge43]

12. Alabama is definitely a contender. n/t

[rodeodance]

5. He was jokenly saying it as compared to NY----and we all do that on

occassion. geech!

Hannity tried to get him to apologize last night on his show.

[BOSSHOG]

8. I think it was an outstanding question

Ole Charlie was joking but he made a great point. A state chock full of "hard working christian conservatives" taking more from the feds then they give and their morals are exponentially suspect when reviewing data reflecting their lifestyles. Great question Charlie. Just who the hell would want to live in Mississippi?

[SharonAnn]

24. Not just taking "more" but almost twice as much as they contribute.

[blm]

10. The GOP smear machine targets ANY Dem who makes a joke now. Typical.

I doubt Hillary will say it was "inappropriate" for Rangel to say that, as he won't be running against her.

[dubykc]

7. I have never been there, but...

I know a lot of people who say "It's a great place...

to be FROM!"

[mucifer]

9. One of my patients is from there. She is in Chicago now and will eventually

go back to Mississippi with her family. She did move here for family health care reasons. (gotta be vague because of confidentiality).

[flordehinojos]

11. "a very good job with a nice pension within reach" right there on Mississippi soil?

Really. How bad can MISSISSIPPI be?
I spent part of my teen-age years in HINDS COUNTY in the UTICA, RAYMOND, EDWARDS, JACKSON, VICKSBURG, historical battleground areas of the civil war--though no one advertised it as such back then except for Vicksburg. Kids I knew back then must have been from another planet. They liked to read good fiction--and I think sometimes they competed to see who could read the most in the least time, or who was most up to date on the latest author; they stayed up to watch Johnny Carson, which, in that time, I think was sort of an icon of the avante garde; they, later on went to Ole Miss and Miss State University. I briefly met the Medgar Evers family on a visit to the Discalced Carmelites in Jackson. I was visiting the Carmelites when the door bell rang and it was the Evers family also coming to call on the Carmelites. Those kids that I grew up with way back then, for that period of time from way back then, were pro-civil rights. That doesn't take away from the fact that there were assholes in Mississippi back then. Lots of them. But there were some nice, pretty decent people too. They adored Eudora Welty, William Faulkner and the soil that they walked on.

[BOSSHOG]

14. We don't have the State of Mississippi

to thank for the job. My wife works for NASA. My sanity is maintained because the French Quarter is a mere 60 miles away. and there is a nice little bookstore in the Quarter where Faulkner lived many, many years ago. He's my inspiration. I like to drink while I write.

[flordehinojos]

16. a toast to the French Quarter then! although I am sure it is changed greatly from the FQ i remember

to the FQ that is after the Katrina tragedy. But,for the history contained in the FQ, here is a toast!

:toast:

[BOSSHOG]

17. Actually

The French Quarter received very little damage because of the Hurricane. The lower ninth ward isn't far at all from the quarter and it got wiped out. Most of the businesses in the quarter are up and running albeit with a reduced amount of tourism. That's what it needs more then anything, tourists. And the cruise lines are increasing their business to the city, so things are looking up just a little.

[flordehinojos]

27. nice to know.

thanks.

[Totally Committed]

13. Ever BEEN to Mississippi?

Holy sh*t... If it's anything like I remember it, it's not anyplace I'd ever want to live or visit again.

I was there during a college summer in 1970 doing voter registration, and I gotta tell you, I found nothing to like. The overt racism broke my heart, and the bugs were bigger than my Volkwagen Beetle.

TC

[BOSSHOG]

15. We have lived here for almost seven years

I doubt it has changed much in the past 35 years. The racism is passed on to each generation.

[Totally Committed]

21. I only lived there for a summer, and I came home pretty dis-spirited...

I can't imagine what it was like to live there seven years! Bless your heart.

Are there any DU Mississippians who can give us a happier, more up-dated look at the state? I'd love to hear from you!

TC

[piedmont]

35. My wife is from Mississippi...

She was born and raised in Hattiesburg, a small university town about 60 miles from the gulf. Her experiences, I'd say, were much different from the "hellhole" picture painted by others here. Yes, there are racist assholed there-- and they may be a greater proportion of the pop. than in other places. But as it is everywhere, you pick your friends and experiences to a certain extent. I've always enjoyed going to MS to see her family and friends.
As for poverty, yes there are a lot of very poor people there still (though you don't see it so much in H'burg).
All that said, if offered the same job in NY or MS I'd pick living in MS in a heartbeat. That's because 1) I hate the cold, and love hot summers 2)MS is more rural, and offers more opportunities for hunting, fishing and generally communing with nature. and 3) the people really are friendly (except for the bigots, and I've never given up hope that some can change).

[benEzra]

18. Mississippi is a very poor state...

meaning that a more aid-to-the-poor dollars (medicaid, food stamps, etc.) go to Mississippi than to wealthier New York. Look at the average and median incomes.

[BOSSHOG]

19. Thats true, but

listening to the local conversation for years, one must be appalled that the state receives any assistance whatsoever from the feds. These are hard working self-sustaining, god loving people; just ask them. They don't need any help from the federal government. It must come as a great surprise to them that they are in fact getting more then they give. I don't see them turning back any of that evil liberal entitlement nonsense.

[Historic NY]

22. "Who the hell wants to live in Mississippi" ............

Trent Lott.....:hide: especially if he can fix the insurance company. I was there in the 60's as a young lad lots of real poor blacks & whites. My aunt & uncle lived in Greenville (KKK land) it alway left an impression on me north vs south. It is amazing to see that all the federal dollars they take has done nothing but fatten the rich fat cats. Old Haley was cutting the poors medical care off w/o any parachute. If your rich you live, in Mississippi, if your poor you died. Check the mortality rates.

http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/shr2004/states/Mississippi.html

state ranks 49 out of 50 for cardiac related deaths
state ranks 50 out of 50 infant mortality

[ROakes1019]

23. Native Mississippian

I grew up here, moved away for a number of years, and have come back in my golden years. If I had anywhere else to go, I'd be out of here in a flash.

[nancyr]

25. My daughter lives in Mississippi...unhappily.

It's basically a hellhole from what I've seen of it. The people are religious bigots, the weather is atrocious, there are too many snakes and insects.....yeech. They'd be gone if they could only afford to go somewhere else. I visit occasionally and always enjoy coming back to civilization afterward!

[NaturalHigh]

26. Whatever you think of Mississippi...

(and it's not exactly my favorite place), this was a crass comment. I'm sure he would be offended if most Southerners expressed their opinions of New York City.

[THUNDER HANDS]

29. and they don't?

All you ever hear from southern politicians is how bad NY and California are and how they don't think leaders who share our 'values' are what should be leading the country.

It's been perfectly fine to bash the coastal states, including NY, for years. In fact, it's almost a requirement for seeking higher office.

[NaturalHigh]

30. Who the hell wants to live in New York?

Funny, I don't remember hearing a Southern politician use that phrase lately.

[Selatius]

28. I live in Mississippi. I wouldn't say it's a hellhole, but frankly, it's a very impoverished state.

I can tell you after Hurricane Katrina, the cash cow of Mississippi was either damaged or destroyed. I'm talking about the revenue generated as a result of over a dozen casinos operating on the coast. They were all knocked out after Katrina. Some of them have re-opened but at lower capacity, while others are wiped out. It hit Mississippi's economy very hard.

As far as social issues go, Mississippi has never been a tolerant state, and I don't expect it to ever be a tolerant state.

[BOSSHOG]

33. How are things up in Starkvegas??

My Hogs are coming to town this weekend.

[Selatius]

37. Eh, so and so. BTW, it's a dollar/drink at Rick's on saturday nights.

A cheap way to get drunk fast.

[Bake]

31. Let me tell ya a Mississippi story.

First of all, I moved here about 3 1/2 years ago to take a good job with a large law firm in Jackson. And I can't argue any of the points made in this thread - it's hot as hell here. And humid. And the bugs look like they're on steroids. And there are racists here. And it's a poor state. And the crime rate in Jackson is ridiculous (hmmm ... nobody mentioned that one). And it's among the reddest of the red states.

But lemme tell you a story about Mississippi. My first summer here, I had to go to court in Natchez. It was HOT, and I mean ten degrees hotter than Hell itself. And humid. And I was wearing a suit for court. I got out of court, hop in my 15-year-old van for the drive back to Jackson. About five miles out of Natchez, my van dies. Steam pouring out from the hood. Did I mention that it was hot? Van overheated. Busted a water hose.

In ten minutes I had sweated completely through my clothes. I called my office and told them what happened. Just about then, a black man stopped his pickup truck behind me, got out and greeted me, took a look under my hood. "I know what your problem is, but I don't have the tools to fix it." He went back to his truck and called a good ol' boy, who showed up in about five minutes with several gallons of water and coolant, and a couple of tools. They fixed my busted water hose, got the engine cooled down, and I was just about to be on my way.

I offered them each $20 for saving my life (all the cash I had on me at the time). And you know what? Neither one of them would take it. They just said, "Naw, man, maybe you can jus' help somebody else out sometime."

You won't hear me saying anything bad about Mississippians.

So Charlie, it may have just been a joke to you. But it was a damn stupid one, and I'm not laughing. And you can kiss my big white ass. Two men, one black, one white, went out of their way to help me here in MS when I was just brand new here.

Bake

[BOSSHOG]

34. Great story bake

There are many stories of random acts of kindness and thats the way it should be. My very religious neighbor was incredibly helpful to us after the hurricane. We all had a lot of trees down but he had a tractor and thanks to him we got the neighborhood cleaned up pretty quick. And your experience should be added to our mix when forming opinions. Thanks.

[piedmont]

36. Thanks for sharing that, bake

The south is a more complicated story than most people (even southerners) want to believe.