Massachusetts

[Guinevere]

Who can photoshop this and make the woman blonde!

[BoSoxGal]

Edited because I'm not going to stoop to Guin's level ever again - I'm just going to ignore her, because life is too damned short for that kind of crap.

Apparently me sticking up for myself when once again personally attacked by Guin in lieu of a substantive argument is a source of humor to some of the others here. You ladies are very high class, indeed.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Meade who dedicated years of his life to helping poor black children in South Africa is also a RACIST, as am I, as is LJ, etc.

[Guinevere]

And that says it all, in a nutshell.....

[TPFKA@W]

Was there a pool?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Guin replied to me - nothing objectionable re bsg

[Sue U]

Was there a pool?

Yes, and you owe me $20.

[TPFKA@W]

So sue me for it why don't you? har har, I kill me.

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Joe Guy]

I've put all lawyers here on ignore. They argue too much and it hurts my feelings.

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Guinevere]

Thanks Meade, that's perfect!

[oldr_n_wsr]

Glad you both think its funny/amusing.

DId I laugh?
I found it ditrurbing that the first lady said such a thing.
And I am sorry for the link, I googled "MO and fried chicken" as I had heard what she said on the radio driving in and the dj mentioned how the transcript had vanished on the internet. (I listen to Imus in the morning on WABC on my drive in and over the many years I have listened to him I have found him and his show to be truthful). I posted what I found and didn't even look to see what kind of site it was. My bad for not linking a more factual, even sided site.

ETA
I don't think I am a racist but will take a new inventory of myself. Progress, not perfection.

[Guinevere]

Article in today's Globe that pretty much says what I wrote above about the slow balkanization of Massachusetts by region:http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/1 ... story.html

If Martha Coakley ran for governor of western Massachusetts, she’d have won in a landslide. For his part, Charlie Baker would have had a much easier path to victory were he campaigning to be governor of central Massachusetts or the South Shore.

Massachusetts has a reputation as a very blue state, but geographically it breaks down into some very distinct regions, with differing political preferences and voting patterns.

Again, some of those red and blue towns are only red or blue by the barest of margins, so if you did a true "color" test with saturation based on margin of victory, MA would look pretty purple -- some regions being a redder purple, others bluer. Also you have to take into account the fact that 100% of the congressional delegation, 85% of the state legislature, and every other state-wide office are held by Democrats. In my opinion, it really mostly in the governorship that the Commonwealth tips red (Scott Brown being the other short-lived example), and those "red" Republicans are mostly pink (even Mittens ran as pro-choice here).

[MajGenl.Meade]

You take too much on yourself, oldr. Your links were fine - for those who were thorough the first time (ahem ).

Guin was not referring to you as one of the two thinking it was "funny". She was reacting (I believe and sure) to LJ and me.

Despite the original opinion piece, I don't find the racial stereotyping indulged in by the host and Mrs. Obama to be as offensive as the blatant appeal to naked self-interest and damn the nation, full speed ahead. It is an obvious appeal to disregard programme and vote Democrat because "we will give you more bucks" - not to mention fried chicken, collard greens and yams.

In that context, my remark about 40 acres and a mule is (in my view) appropriate satire of such appeals to racial stereotypes and rewards for voting the right way (and yes, I know the original 40/mule thing was nothing to do with votes per se)

“That’s my message to voters. This isn’t about Barack, it’s not about the person on the ballot, it’s about you,” Obama said. “And for most of the people that we’re talking to, a Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on, regardless of who said what or did this. That shouldn’t even come into the equation.”

[Guinevere]

Meade is correct, it was the following comments not the link itself.

As for "40 acres and a mule" I always associate that with the scene from gone with the wind, when the carpetbaggers are trying to entice the freed blacks to vote a certain way by promising them 40 acres and a mule. Neither the carpetbaggers nor the freed men are portrayed in a particularly flattering light, instead as in many scenes in the film, both the blacks and the carpetbaggers are portrayed using stereotypes that we understand today to be inappropriate. That was my objection to the phrase.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Understood - I didn't recall it from GWTW. Interesting. As a civil war student, I'm not much on Ms. Mitchell but think more along these lines - black people's expectations being roused at the end of the war as they anticipated a more equitable distribution of government lands in the westward expansion. That government did try to do so but with less effective results than expected; the problem of land redistribution in South Africa is very much what I was thinking about too.

I have (white) farmer friends and spent time with the (black) farm workers - the problems of redistribution are seemingly intractable if expediency is one of the key drivers. No one likes to hear "it will take time" but frankly the black farm workers must be equipped both financially and educationally to avoid turning successful farm operations into a series of dying subsistence patches. Stereotypes are often accurate - it's a plain fact that the average farm worker (and I assign no blame here) will chop down an apple orchard for winter fuel and wonder why there's no crop next year. There must be some way to bring the black workers into long-term partnerships while at the same time persuading the white farmer to give up the idea that all the hectares are inheritable by their own family to the exclusion of others.

40 acres and a mule is not the answer but it is, unfortunately, what has happened in southern Africa and the results are Zimbabwe, a net exporter of food which now relies on massive agricultural imports and subsidies. SA fears a similar result - and the fear reaches right up into the ANC government which may be self-serving at times (well, all the time) but has no desire to govern a failed economy just to give the folks a parcel each.

Wiki, she say:

Free Blacks in the South widely believed that all land would be redistributed to those who had worked on it. They also felt strongly that they had a right to own this land. Many expected this event to occur by Christmas 1865 or New Year's 1866. Although the freed people formed this belief in response to the policies of the Freedmen's Bureau and Circular #13, their hopes were soon downplayed as superstition akin to belief in Santa Claus.

Hope for “40 acres and a mule” specifically was prevalent beginning in early 1865. The expectation of “40 acres” came from the explicit terms of Sherman's Field Order and the Freedmen's Bureau bill. The “mule” may have been added simply as an obvious necessity for achieving prosperity through agriculture. (“Forty acres” was a slogan, which though it did appear often in formal declarations, represented a wide variety of different arrangements for land ownership and farming.)

[BoSoxGal]

Massachusetts has played a significant role in American history since the Pilgrims, seeking religious freedom, founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. As one of the most important of the 13 colonies, Massachusetts became a leader in resisting British oppression. In 1773, the Boston Tea Party protested unjust taxation. The Minute Men started the American Revolution by battling British troops at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.
During the 19th century, Massachusetts was famous for the intellectual activity of its writers and educators and for its expanding commercial fishing, shipping, and manufacturing interests. Massachusetts pioneered the manufacture of textiles and shoes. Today, these industries have been replaced in importance by the electronics and communications equipment fields.
The state's cranberry crop is the nation's second-largest (after Wisconsin). Also important are dairy and poultry products, nursery and greenhouse produce, vegetables, and fruit.
Tourism has become an important factor in the economy of the state because of its numerous recreational areas and historical landmarks. Cape Cod has beaches, summer theaters, and an artists' colony at Provincetown. The Berkshires, in the western part of the state, is the site of Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony; art museums, including Mass MoCA and the Clark Institute; and Jacob's Pillow, a world renowned dance center.
In May 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.


Read more: Massachusetts: Map, History, Population, Facts, Capitol, Flag, Tree, Geography, Symbols | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/us-states/mas ... z3IS5lv6Ke