COLBERT REPORT AND RACISM

[JonnyC]

Colbert begins his show with the comment- " WHAT'S THE STATE OF RACISM IN THE US?"-- his answer " I THINK IT'S ALABAMA." Colbert than compares racism to a fart. Instead of making a big deal about it- "it's best to ignore it and it will soon go away. " I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE- THAT THERE IS FUNNY 

[dukkillr]

I enjoy both the Colbert Report and The Daily Show.  Both guys are liberal at heart but that doesn't keep them from being funny.  I laughed at that Alabama joke for quite a while...

[nomosendero]

I wonder if he has even been to AL ?

[beerbelly]

I don't watch eather of those creeps!
               Beerbelly

[Heather]

I meet more racist on line from around the world than I ever have even imagined here in Alabama, but I guess to those still stuck in the past it made for a funny joke.

Heather

[slim rem 7]

being a christian ...i believe he loves all his children... being a man who sees,,, in my opinion more racism from blacks than whites anymore... makes it hard to not be a racist... but i still give anyone i meet the oportunity to show me what they are about....no matter what color...
 if they are a person i think will deal strait up with me,,,they can be blue for all i care...
 difference is a good thing...jmo
 ps it aint always easy to hold that line of thinking but ,i know a black fella i grew up with,, who really got hurt up in my hometown by some white boys that was so bad most died in prison ,,,an the worst ofum from several 357 rnds in his chest..stroker was a bully bad man... if you squared off with him,, you likely get a big wrench in the ribs from behind,,from his buddy.... i always stayed away from socialising withim ,,,cause i knew i might have to killim some day if i did..jmo slim
   my big test for a black fella is how he acts when i walk up to him with some of his friends...
  if he shuns me then,,,i write him off as a sorry  ...well nuff said,,,,but he don t get a second chance...slim

[JonnyC]

I don't watch eather of those creeps!
               Beerbelly

Colbert is NOT a creep. He went over to Iraq and raised the moral level of our troops a heck of alot more the anyone on Fox TV. that's for sure.

[nomosendero]

I don't watch eather of those creeps!
               Beerbelly

Colbert is NOT a creep. He went over to Iraq and raised the moral level of our troops a heck of alot more the anyone on Fox TV. that's for sure.

I guess that means you havn't seen the Blonde Woman on Fox & Friends or you have other interests.

[Oldshooter]

I thought you left our right wing conspiracy controled site jonny.

Now dont get your panties in a wad there pardner, There are a lot of folk on the right that went to I raq and lifted spirits, that didnt come back and make fun of them later!

[JonnyC]

Now dont get your panties in a wad there pardner, There are a lot of folk on the right that went to I raq and lifted spirits, that didnt come back and make fun of them later!
[/quote]

AN EXACTLY HOW DID HE DO THAT

[Aught Six]

I'm with Heather.  I've seen far more racism in other places than I have in my beloved Alabama.

I've lived here for 33 years and wouldn't trade it for the world!

The more people that think we're backward and don't have running water, the better--that means they'll stay away!

Best,
Aught Six

[dukkillr]

44th GDP
45th education
46th in highschool graduation (Only 65% of 9th graders graduate in 4 years!)
48th in life expectancy
43rd lowest poverty rate
49th in pre-term delivery
38th lowest teen birthrate (Not Bottom 20%!)
45th infant survival rate

49th fewest deaths by heart disease
50th fewest deaths by stroke

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2007/11/05/daily5.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/data/state_profile_ALA.htm
http://www.statestats.com/edrank.htm

And I found this article about Alabama's struggle with indoor plubing to be hilarious: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2002-07-05-plumbing.htm

Alabama's Black Belt, the south-central region known for its dark soil and impoverished history, is slowly casting off its rustic inconveniences along with much of the rural South. But some houses wouldn't look out of place if they existed a century ago.

McMeans said he wants to finish building an indoor bathroom and run the outside water lines through it.

But until then, he'll do without, walking down a dirt path into the woods to take care of business. At night, he sits inside on a toilet lid propped up over a bucket, rather than venturing out.

"They got some rattlesnakes back there," McMeans said. "I got that bucket inside. I sit on it and put it outside in the morning."

To brush his few remaining teeth, McMeans just gets a toothbrush and stands outside next to the running spigot.

"The biggest thing I've been brushing is my gums," he joked.

According to Don Bogie, director of the Auburn University Montgomery Center for Cultural and Demographic Research, there are two main reasons more people have gotten plumbing since 1990.

Poor people increasingly are moving into trailer homes, which come with a commode installed, he said. And county governments have managed to provide water lines to outlying areas that previously were beyond reach.

After looking at those stats I would say that my impression from my one and only trip to Alabama seemed to be spot on.  It seems to me that just visiting Alabama may kill you...

[beerbelly]

Then please stay away! The last thing we need down here is ass holes like you!
                      Beerbelly

[dukkillr]

Then please stay away! The last thing we need down here is ass holes like you!
                      Beerbelly

I didn't make the stats?  Why the hostility?  Did you not already know those things?

[Aught Six]

Then please stay away! The last thing we need down here is ass holes like you!
                      Beerbelly

I didn't make the stats?  Why the hostility?  Did you not already know those things?

Actually, dukkillr, one could ask 'why the hostility' from you?  What motivates you to denigrate others' home?

[Skunk]

Then please stay away! The last thing we need down here is ass holes like you!
                      Beerbelly

I didn't make the stats?  Why the hostility?  Did you not already know those things?

Actually, dukkillr, one could ask 'why the hostility' from you?  What motivates you to denigrate others' home?

I'm not sure what's so denigrating there Aught Six? Heck, Wisconsin didn't even have indoor flushing toilets until around 1890.

[dukkillr]

Then please stay away! The last thing we need down here is ass holes like you!
                      Beerbelly

I didn't make the stats?  Why the hostility?  Did you not already know those things?

Actually, dukkillr, one could ask 'why the hostility' from you?  What motivates you to denigrate others' home?

Well this has sure strayed from the topic but... 

It was suggested by you in the post above my first that, "The more people that think we're backward and don't have running water, the better--that means they'll stay away!"  I thought that would be interesting to investigate the reality of the demographics in Alabama... I posted a bunch of statistics and let others draw whatever conclusion they may.  For instance I didn't say, "Alabama sucks because they are among the most ingnorant states in the country..." Instead I just put up a bunch of data that you can read and decide for yourself. 

With the exception of a half sentence about the bad health of the average Alabaman I didn't express a personal opinion at all. 

Now compare that with beerbelly calling me an "ass hole" and I think we can agree that I was not the one with the hostility here.  So I ask again, what gives?  Is there some surprise in the data?  Did you honestly not know those things?  Or do you want others to not know them?  Why call me names for posting them?

If you want to post demographic data about Kansas I can promise you that I won't take offense and call people names.  What's the difference?  Please think carefully about your answer and be honest...  I think we both know what that answer is...

[Heather]

44th GDP
45th education
46th in highschool graduation (Only 65% of 9th graders graduate in 4 years!)
48th in life expectancy
43rd lowest poverty rate
49th in pre-term delivery
38th lowest teen birthrate (Not Bottom 20%!)
45th infant survival rate

49th fewest deaths by heart disease
50th fewest deaths by stroke

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2007/11/05/daily5.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/data/state_profile_ALA.htm
http://www.statestats.com/edrank.htm

And I found this article about Alabama's struggle with indoor plubing to be hilarious: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2002-07-05-plumbing.htm

Alabama's Black Belt, the south-central region known for its dark soil and impoverished history, is slowly casting off its rustic inconveniences along with much of the rural South. But some houses wouldn't look out of place if they existed a century ago.

McMeans said he wants to finish building an indoor bathroom and run the outside water lines through it.

But until then, he'll do without, walking down a dirt path into the woods to take care of business. At night, he sits inside on a toilet lid propped up over a bucket, rather than venturing out.

"They got some rattlesnakes back there," McMeans said. "I got that bucket inside. I sit on it and put it outside in the morning."

To brush his few remaining teeth, McMeans just gets a toothbrush and stands outside next to the running spigot.

"The biggest thing I've been brushing is my gums," he joked.

According to Don Bogie, director of the Auburn University Montgomery Center for Cultural and Demographic Research, there are two main reasons more people have gotten plumbing since 1990.

Poor people increasingly are moving into trailer homes, which come with a commode installed, he said. And county governments have managed to provide water lines to outlying areas that previously were beyond reach.

After looking at those stats I would say that my impression from my one and only trip to Alabama seemed to be spot on.  It seems to me that just visiting Alabama may kill you...

       As the statistics show there are many of poor people around here in Alabama, but most could be way better off with government assistance.  We let a few things such as pride, integrity, and self dependence stand in the way. Why don’t you look up and see how much Alabama spends on government programs such as food stamps, HUD housing, and medicade as compared to the other states.  We rely on ourselves and family.

It doesn’t surprise me that we have a high drop out rate.  I had many of friends in high school that dropped out of school to get a job or tend the farm to help their family to survive. A lot of people around here forgo getting a formal education because they live to survive and just enjoy living instead of spending years in a class room to learn things they would never apply at home working the fields or making parts in the local factory.

 They don’t want to make a ton of money in an office somewhere.  Good thing to for all of those people who want necessities such as food, cotton for clothes, and many other items that are grown or produced here in our state.  You want the goods and services, but you want to belittle the people that make these goods and services for you.

We may not be the best educated group of people, but we can grow our own food, make our own clothes, and build just about anything we need to.  We might not win a science award, but leave us alone in the wilderness and we will be just fine.
 
   It also isn’t surprising that we have a high rate for heart disease.  We eat read meat and tons of fried foods.  We all have to die some way why not at least enjoy some good southern cooking. 

  You seemed to have posted only statistics highlighting the negative aspects of the state.  Look at our crime rate, productions of goods, and percentage of Christians.  If Alabama is such a horrible state and it’s people are so bad why do you frequent and post on a website that in owned and operated in Alabama by people who were born and raised here and love the life they live here???

   Where I live in Alabama there are more churches than bars and more folks living life taking care of their kids and enjoying the simple pleasures of life than committing crime.  Most of the individuals I meet work hard to take care of their family and spend their free time hunting, fishing, going to local football games, mud riding, boating and swimming in the local lakes and rivers.

   We still teach our kids to say sir and mam and drag them to church on Sundays.  We have respect for the working man and would NEVER trash talk about someone’s home!

[Aught Six]

1.  What Heather said.
2.  Dukkillr, I did not call you names.
3.  Why on Earth would I care to post and comment upon demographic data about Kansas or anywhere else?  Any fool can dig up unfavorable information about anywhere.  There are also always a myriad of good points about those places, as Heather expressed much more eloquently than I could about my home state.

[dukkillr]

  You seemed to have posted only statistics highlighting the negative aspects of the state.  Look at our crime rate, productions of goods, and percentage of Christians.  If Alabama is such a horrible state and it’s people are so bad why do you frequent and post on a website that in owned and operated in Alabama by people who were born and raised here and love the life they live here???

   Where I live in Alabama there are more churches than bars and more folks living life taking care of their kids and enjoying the simple pleasures of life than committing crime.  Most of the individuals I meet work hard to take care of their family and spend their free time hunting, fishing, going to local football games, mud riding, boating and swimming in the local lakes and rivers.

1) Please post exactly where I said Alabama was, "...such a horrible state and it's people are so bad..."  I said NO SUCH THING.  Claiming I said something and then attacking it isn't a very good way to have a conversation.  I have nothing but respect for you, GB, and Matt... I've never said anything personally insulting to any of you and I have no intention of doing that.  Please don't claim something I didn't say.

2) I picked whatever statistics I could think of that would apply to the post I was responding... namely those I thought might influence someone's ranking for "backwards" because that is the word Aught Six used.

3) I did post GDP which is as close to production of goods as I could think of.  Actually Alabama ranks 42 in GDP per capita but that's not too different from the 44th I listed earlier.  

4) Crime rate didn't really figure into what I thought was being discussed but:
-  Alabama ranks 49th lowest in gun deaths http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/05/alabama_2nd_in_gun_deaths.html
-  Alabama ranks as the 16th worst state in per capita crime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States
-  Alabama ranks 23rd worst in violent crime... http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank21.html

5) I can't find any stats on religion other than this: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jPWb3CTnc_vd2UfVDt2M8j9M2vOw
-  82% of Alabamans say religion plays an important part of their life every day
-  65% of Americans say religion plays an important part of their life every day

6) I'm glad you and others love Alabama... I'm glad your happy and I have no issue with that... I lived and went to college in southern Missouri.  I spent much of my free time hunting, fishing, hiking, and floating the Ozarks of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.  That area is also poor, rural, generally uneducated and less developed.  I'd never seen a house without indorr plumbing until then.  I loved my time there.  The rugged uncivilized nature of the area made it great to me, and I suspect that idea appeals to many in other places...  But that doesn't mean what I posted is wrong... and, again, I did NOT insult anyone living anywhere...

   We still teach our kids to say sir and mam and drag them to church on Sundays.  We have respect for the working man and would NEVER trash talk about someone’s home!

But at least some of you wouldn't hesitate to call someone they've never met an "ass hole" just because they posted some statistics they didn't like... How very respectful...

[Graybeard]

3) I did post GDP which is as close to production of goods as I could think of.  Actually Alabama ranks 42 in GDP per capita but that's not too different from the 44th I listed earlier. 

With all the auto making factories we have here now I'd suspect that data isn't current but I've sure not checked it. I suppose we still have some backward areas in the state without facilities but I've sure not been to any such in a great many years.

Growing up we had an outhouse until at least the mid to late 50s I guess but then added indoor bathroom. Dunno about other places in the state really but I suspect most all but the most rural of areas switched even sooner.

[Aught Six]

And we here in Alabama (along with some other key places) merely put 12 men on the moon and our rocket propulsion systems regularly send people into space on the Shuttle.  But hey, any culturally deprived backwater could pull that off, eh?

[nomosendero]

3) I did post GDP which is as close to production of goods as I could think of.  Actually Alabama ranks 42 in GDP per capita but that's not too different from the 44th I listed earlier. 

With all the auto making factories we have here now I'd suspect that data isn't current but I've sure not checked it. I suppose we still have some backward areas in the state without facilities but I've sure not been to any such in a great many years.

Growing up we had an outhouse until at least the mid to late 50s I guess but then added indoor bathroom. Dunno about other places in the state really but I suspect most all but the most rural of areas switched even sooner.

I was thinking the same thing. BTW, I live in Northern AR & my job takes me all over N AR & Southern MO. I don't see those houses without indoor plumbing. I float rivers alot too, like the Buffalo, White, Current River, Eleven Point & Spring & Black. Most of the areas I float have very few houses at all & I am not one to go check out the plumbing, but I am not seeing that. Oh, & I hunt here alot! I hope that the Walton houses, the Tyson Houses & JB hunts Estates have indoor plumbing, I will assume for now that they do. As far as education goes, the Ozark schools in AR have to comply with State standards & they ranked very low for years 47-49th in most years, even moreso after Bill let Hillary do her majic, Huck pulled it up a little, doesn't matter. point is Ozark stds are the same as Little Rock, computers & all. Same for MO, which has rated much better. Like GB said, sounds very outdated.

[JonnyC]

I WENT TO ALABAMA ONCE- HAD A BANJO ON MY KNEE. LOL  no offense meant- thought I would lighten things up..

[Mad Dog]

I agree with Heather, and others.  I think there are places around the world that are MUCH more racist than Alabama, and the deep south.  I was in south africa, last year, on a plains game hunt, and found the country to be very racist.  To the point, that if blacks/minorities think it is tough here, they should see how the blacks live/work there.  They are several rungs BELOW our worst levels of povery, racism, here in this country.

However, I was there to hunt and vacation.  As a guest of their country, I elected to not get involved in their politics and views of the situation.

Mad Dog

[Aught Six]

JonnyC, thanks for lightening things up!   

[gypsyman]

My brother married his high school sweetheart in 1970. When he got out of the navy in '73, my dad and I helped dig out the line to hook him into city sewers. His wife and mother-in-law had been using an outhouse. Only indoor plumbing was water into a kitchen sink. We both live about 4 miles outside of Toledo. So much for Alabama having outhouse's into the '60's. We had them here in Ohio into the 70's.
Matter of fact, lots of farms still have an outhouse. Don't want to take off there dirty boots just to do a number 2.
And as far as racism goes, we had a KKK march in Toledo, I believe 3 years ago. When was the last time there was one in Alabama? gypsyman

[slim rem 7]

you just insulted the heck out of alabamans an you wonder about hostile reactions...
 you need to try get in touch with reality bud... you just aint right somehow ,,it seems to me..
 an aint right upstairs.....it mighta happened when some alabaman dn there give you an old fashion but whippin...i might be wrong but at least it gives you a valid excuse
 for not having all the cards left in you deck..is that what happened...slim...
 ps come near happening to me up milwaukee way in a park with my girl friend,,,but i survived an don t blame the whole city for several punks with trouble on thier mind.. slim
  ps is know i ain t made a friend outa you,,,so pick you time an take you shot..
 i did jump you when you was catching some flack..so for that i am sorry...
 but you need to think a lttle harder before you jump somebodies home state..

[dukkillr]

I will say that we don't have "feuds" here in Kansas.  Part of me wishes we did... great entertainment...

(AP)  Two Alabama families that had been fighting for years turned their feud into a full-scale riot Monday outside a small-town city hall, with up to 150 screaming people hurling tire irons and wielding baseball bats.

Eight people were arrested, and at least four were hurt, Trooper John Reese said. Two were taken to hospitals. The town's police chief was hit in the head with a crowbar but was OK.

The two- or three-year-old feud apparently prompted a fight earlier in the day at a high school, after a window was shot out of a home Sunday night. Then, "all hell broke loose" later in the day, said Sgt. Carlton Hogue of the Perry County Sheriff's Department.

I especially love how they are throwing tire irons at each other (and the police chief was hit with a crowbar)!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/25/national/main5264315.shtml

[Elijah Gunn]

Dukkiller, I say this to you respectfully. Sometimes in your posts you come off sounding smug, and condescending. As soon as I saw the Alabama stats you posted I knew people were gonna be offended. I don't think it was your intention to do that. There are just some things we need to be sensitive to when posting. It's too easy to misunderstand someone's intent when all we have is what is typed here.( no vocal inflections, or body language)
The "smilies" help some to overcome that problem.