The Next Time a Right Winger Tells You How Great They Are, Show Them This...
<snip> By almost every measure, the Republican leadership has let their own base down, and apparently, their "base" is just too stupid to notice. And I apologize in advance to the Democrats in these states; I know there are a lot of you, and you hate having others point this out to you, but now, you can print this and hand it out to the goddamn redneck across the street the next time he tells you what a great man George W. Bush was, and what a socialist Barack Obama is.Tell him his state is among the worst in the country by most measures. Another note; in the statistics below, I left Washington, DC out of the mix on purpose. It's not a state, the city is largely run by Congress, and its population for most of the day is mostly transient, which tends to skew per capita figures to a very great degree. Plus, some measurements included them others didn't. Let's start this with some basic economics. Here's a list of the top ten states by median income: 1. Maryland, 2. New Jersey, 3. Connecticut, 4. Alaska, 5. Hawaii, 6. New Hampshire, 7. Massachusetts, 8. California, 9. Virginia, 10. Minnesota.But more interesting are the BOTTOM ten states; 50. Mississippi, 49. West Virginia, 48. Arkansas, 47. Kentucky, 46. Alabama, 45. Louisiana, 44. New Mexico, 43. Oklahoma, 42. Tennessee, 41. South Carolina. Those above statistics have been pretty much static for at least 30 years; the groupings haven't changed much. The only reliably Republican state in the top ten is Alaska, and they almost don't even count, because they're largely socialist. They pay no state taxes, and the state cuts them a check every year, courtesy of the oil companies. I had to laugh during the campaign, when Caribou Barbie bragged on the fact that she "negotiated" a higher welfare payment for Alaskans from the oil companies. They got more money because everyone was paying $4 a gallon for gas, and the oil companies were making record profits. But all of the other nine are either solidly blue or very purple. Meanwhile, ALL of the bottom ten are quite reliably red, especially after the Republicans made sure they stayed that way post-Katrina. Now, it is possible to fudge numbers when using medians and averages, but there is no fudging these, because the poverty rate is so widespread. The ten states with the highest number of residents living below the poverty line are: 1. Mississippi, 21.6%, 2. Louisiana, 19.4%, 3. New Mexico, 19.3%, 4. Arkansas, 17.9%, 5. West Virginia, 17.9%, 6. Kentucky, 17.4%, 7. Texas, 16.6%, 8. Alabama, 16.1%, 9. South Carolina, 15.7%, 10. Oklahoma, 15.3%. Roughly the same group of states, and all run by Republicans. Again; these people are telling us how to put people to work, and increase tax revenues? Seriously? They're running the poorest states in the country, and they won't be satisfied until they've done the same thing for the rest of the country. So why is it, no matter how many times the Republican "base" votes for their Republican heroes, and nothing changes, they continue to support them? Oh, wait; the answers are below. I just haven't gotten to them yet. By the way. they don't just occupy the bottom economically. They always talk about how tough they are on crime, mostly because they throw a bunch more people in jail, and they execute far more criminals than blue states. And they'll swear that such measures make everyone safer. But you can't prove it based on statistics. The ten states with the highest violent crime rate are, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics for 2006. 1. South Carolina, 2. Tennessee, 3. Nevada, 4. Florida, 5. Louisiana, 6. Alaska, 7. Delaware, 8. Maryland, 9. New Mexico, 10. Michigan. Yes, you read that right. The states with the highest violent crime rate are mostly RED, not blue. Seven of the top ten are mostly run by Republicans. If we dig down to the top 15, the only blue states added would be Illinois and California. That's right, folks; ten of the 15 states with the highest violent crime rates in the country are mostly run by Republicans. Their violent crime rates are far higher than New York, far higher than New Jersey, and a whole lot higher than that bastion of liberalism, Massachusetts. Nineteen states have crime rates higher than the US average, and only five are largely run by Democrats. As a subset of violent crimes, murder rates follow the same pattern; 1. South Carolina, 2. Florida, 3. Maryland, 4. Tennessee, 5. New Mexico, 6. Louisiana, 7. Alaska, 8. Nevada, 9. Delaware, 10. California. And they love the gun in those red states, don't they? They will swear with their dying breath that the gun protects them. But check out the ten states with the highest firearm death rate (by now, you should be able to guess most of them); 1. Alaska, 2. Louisiana, 3. Wyoming, 4. Arizona, 5. Nevada, 6. Mississippi, 7. New Mexico, 8. Arkansas, 9. Alabama, 10. Tennessee. For this one, I'm going to show you the states with the lowest firearm death rate, mainly because some will surprise you. 50. Hawaii, 49. Massachusetts, 48. Connecticut, 47. New Jersey, 46. New York, 45. Rhode Island, 44 New Hampshire, 43. Minnesota, 42. Maine, 41. Iowa. Yes, you read that right. You have a far greater chance of being shot and killed in Caribou Barbie's Alaska than in Tony Soprano's New Jersey. Now, I have nothing against guns, per se, but it seems strange that, in states where so many people have them, and claim increased safety and security because they have one, that the odds of being killed are greater there. Doesn't there seem to be a logical disconnect there somewhere? Perhaps it's their lack of education. I know it's hard to believe, but you know how they've been trying to tell us the best way to run schools, and how they can do it better than anyone? Check out the ten states with the highest graduation rates: 1. New Jersey, 2. North Dakota, 3. Iowa, 4. Vermont, 5. Wisconsin, 6. Connecticut, 7. Pennsylvania, 8. Minnesota, 9. Idaho, 10. Nebraska. Now, a couple of red ones popped up in there, mostly in red states where there really isn't anything to do if you drop out of high school. I mean, what does a teenager do in North Dakota, Idaho or Nebraska if they aren't going to school. Yet, seven of the top ten states are still usually run by Democrats, or an occasional moderate Republican. But check out the bottom ten. Again, you can almost guess who most of them are. 50. South Carolina, 49. Nevada, 48. Georgia, 47. New Mexico, 46. Florida, 45, Louisiana, 44. Delaware, 43. Alabama, 42. Mississippi and 41. Tennessee. Again, nine out of bottom ten states have been dominated mostly by Republicans over the years. New Mexico's been kind of purple in recent years, but Bill Richardson apparently has his work cut out for him, after so many years of Republican right wing domination. Now, these right wingers are always assuring us they have it all going on when it comes to morals, right? I mean, you listen to them, and you'd swear that every Republican was a clean as the driven snow. They scoff at us "lib'rulls" and our so-called "lifestyles," and they are so keen on making sure gay couples don't partake in that "sacred tradition" of marriage. But they don't apparently take that "sacred tradition" very seriously themselves. The ten states with the highest divorce rates are as follows; 1. Nevada, 2. Arkansas, 3. Alaska, 4. Oklahoma, 5. Wyoming, 6. West Virginia, 7. Alabama, 8. Idaho, 9. Florida, 10. Tennessee. Now, when you think of right wingers and their morality bullshit, you have to look at the teen pregnancy rate. And not surprisingly, there seems to be a problem here, as well. Here are the top ten states with regard to teen pregnancy; 1. Nevada, 2. Arizona, 3. Mississippi, 4. New Mexico, 5. Texas, 6. Florida, 7. California, 8. Georgia, 9. North Carolina, 10. Arkansas. Is that unbelievable or what? Except for California, all of them are Republican states , full of politicians who are heavily into waving their "morality" in our faces every chance they get. But it gets even better. You know how the right wing Republicans are always so high and mighty about their alleged independence from the federal government, and how really pissed off they are over the stimulus bill, and all the bank bailouts and all of that? They've always claimed to be advocates for states' rights, and as much autonomy from the government as possible. And you've heard them all rail and whine and cry about welfare, and they openly make fun of anyone who depends on the government to get by. Well, folks, meet the state welfare queens. These are the top ten states -- the ones who get the most bang for the buck. Every single one of these states gets more federal tax money than they pay in, which means other states get less than they pay in. Now, if you were a right winger, would it seem fair that some states get more tax money back than they pay in, while others get less than they pay in? Check out this list, and answer that for yourself. Next to each state is how much money they get back for every dollar in federal taxes they pay in; 1. New Mexico, $2.03 2. Mississippi, $2.02, 3. Alaska, $1.84, 4. Louisiana, $1.78, 5. West Virginia, $1.76, 6. North Dakota, $1.68, 7. Alabama, $1.66, 8. South Dakota, $1.53, 9. Kentucky, $1.51, 10. Virginia, $1.51. Yes, that's right, folks, the top ten federal welfare cases are all red states, although I probably shouldn't include Virginia, since the northern part of the state is practically federal territory, with several federal agencies located there, which is where the federal spending goes. But number 11 is Montana, anyway, so it almost doesn't matter. Right wing red states are the greatest recipients of federal welfare, contrary to what they want you to believe. Check this out. These are the ten states who receive the LEAST federal money; 50. New Jersey, $0.61, 49. Nevada, $0.65, 48. Connecticut, $0.69, 47. New Hampshire, $0.71, 46. Minnesota, $0.72, 45. Illinois, $0.75, 44. Delaware, $0.77, 43. California, $0.78, 42. New York, $0.79, 41. Colorado, $0.81. Basically, the blue states are subsidizing many of the red states, which are largely run by Republicans. These assholes, who get apoplectic at the very thought that an undocumented immigrant pregnant woman might have a child in a California hospital, seem to have no problem with the California taxpayers effectively subsidizing their states, because they can't lift their states out of the economic dark ages. Put simply, the current incarnation of the Republican Party are hypocrites, their supporters are hypocrites and delusional, and if anyone tries to convince you that neocons are better at doing anything with regard to government, show them these stats. In fact, print this and hand it out to any co-worker who argue that Democrats are screwing things up. It might not shut them up, but it'll make you feel better. http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2009/03/why-should-we-even-listen-to-right-wing-pols-.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WebTV Dawgs/Dittos" group. 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