Notice to all Yankees ( Mississippi ranked least livable state 6 years running)

Google ^ | 04-29-04

[WKB]

Mississippi ranked 50th for the sixth year in a row. Other states in the bottom five were Tennessee, Louisiana and South Carolina.

For the 14th year running, Alabama has ranked near the bottom in a national survey of "livability" that measures each state's quality of life based on factors such as hazardous waste sites and the rates of crime, bankruptcy and unemployment.

Kansas-based Morgan Quitno Press ranked Alabama as the 47th most livable state.

The group found New Hampshire the "most livable state." Others in the top ten were Minnesota, Vermont, Iowa, New Jersey, Wyoming, Virginia, Nebraska, Connecticut and South Dakota.

[bourbon]

I'll grant you this, Mencken's essay on the South is very funny.

In turn, I hope that you will grant me this: Romanticizing the state of Maryland and worshipping Nietzche are not indications of a healthy mind.

[CatoRenasci]

Well, we agree Mencken could be wickedly funny.

As to his romaticizing Maryland, I regard that as the sort of foible almost anyone could have concerning his native state: I don't share his delusions, but I don't have to live their either.

Actually, it is unfair to say Mencken worshiped Nietzsche. He was one of the first Americans to really read Nietzsche in German, and he wrote a rather perceptive book on Nietzsche which was published in 1902, if I recall correctly. All of his later comments about Nietzsche need to be taken in the context that he had actually read and thought about Nietzsche's work. Nietzsche is reviled as a proto-Nazi, which is a false charge, and as a nihilist, which is also false. I find Nietzsche fascinating, both in his magnificent German prose style (one of the finest writers of German prose in the 19th century) and his half-mad philsophical musings. Read Walter Kaufmann's biography of Nietzsche, which is a good introduction to his life and thought.

[My2Cents]

You know better than I. But if that area is the anal passage of the entire south, much of California is what actually passes through such anal passage.

[My2Cents]

140 years of social and economic deprivation in the rural south, and you're blaming it on Lincoln?! Wow, he was a more effective chief executive than I previously realized.

[bourbon]

Good. We agree on more.

1) Nietzche is fascinating.
2) Nietzche is an excellent writer.
3) Nietzche is not a nihilist.
4) Nietzche was, in some respects, half-mad. (Of course, later in his life he was completely mad).
5) Walter Kaufman's book is a good intro. to his life and thought.

Nevertheless, I stand by my assertion that Mencken "worshipped" Nietzche as much as he "worshipped" any man other than himself.

[bourbon]

I voted for Mississippi before I voted against it.

you crack me up.

[CatoRenasci]

So, we limit our disagreement to whether Mencken "worshipped" Nietzsche or not. I think that's the sort of thing reasonable men can differ about, but I'd be curious what in Mencken's writings leads you to that conclusion. I collect Mencken and have read most of his stuff that was published in book form, but I just don't get Nietzsche-worship out of M's corpus.

As to Nietzsche, which German edition do you favor? When I was a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, we had one of the very few remaining copies of the complete Musarion Ausgabe of 1922 -- the one Kaufman thinks is the best text. I had a great time going through it, especially since many of the pages were uncut when I first saw it. The head librarian even bought me a paper knife!

[bourbon]

guess what, pal. we're getting it. Gov. Barbour is currently pushing a second round of substantial tort reform through the legislature right now.

I hope that when this much-needed legislation passes and the litigation environment here settles down you will cease the overheated attacks you have been making against our state on this forum for the past several years.

Let me emphasize that: I hope that you will, but I suspect that you won't. Comments of yours like "Mississippi may be hell on earth for human beings," suggest that your objections to the state's legal environment disguise a more general contempt for the state and its people, and I'll confess I don't like it one bit.

[bourbon]

(But I would never tell that to a Texan for two reasons: a) I'd hurt his/her feelings and b) probably get my nose busted! ;^)

This comment reveals that you are intelligent and well-mannered person, with a keen sense of probable consequences to boot.

[bourbon]

those women from around Natchez are snooty.

true dat.

[WKB]

YOU? from your lofty perch there in NY with your
OH so conservative Senators and your perfect world can dare to say anything negative about the state of Mississippi.
On your home page you say you or a male looking for a FEMALE . That is the only thing I find positive about you or your state

[onyx]

You stay out of our "hell hole" will ya?
You come here and we might sue you.

[bourbon]

Sadly, I can't read/speak German. It's really a shame. I've heard that reading Nietzche in German is a unparalleled pleasure, plus I think it would have been very helpful to my education.

BTW, I intend "worship" to signify only that Mencken held Nietzche in a very high degree of esteem. I don't mean to say that Mencken made nightly offerinds of obeisance to little Nietzche idols. :-)

I'll have to get back with you on what portions of Mencken's writings gave me this impression. Unfortunately, I don't keep my library in my office. Moreover, I'll allow for the very real possibility that I'm wandering outside of my areas of expertise and that I may be falling victim to a faulty memory on this count!

[bourbon]

oops.

offerinds = offerings

[oldironsides]

$1.75 regular in Pa..today. Some places it is $1.85

[friendly]

Miss. governor: hellish legal climate helped cost us auto plant

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says the Magnolia State's famously pro-plaintiff litigation climate may have played a role in Toyota's decision last year to locate a new plant in Texas rather than northern Mississippi. Barbour "gave reporters and legislators copies of a letter written to him last week by Dennis C. Cuneo, a New York-based senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America Inc. ...Cuneo said he led the site selection for the Japanese auto maker's newest plants and was impressed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry's commitment to changing that state's civil justice system. Cuneo wrote Mississippi is 'desirable' for its infrastructure, pool of skilled labor, quality of life and proximity to other Toyota plants and suppliers. But he said 'the litigation climate in Mississippi is unfavorable, and negatively impacts the state's business climate.'" (Emily Wagster Pettus, "Barbour: Legal climate hurt state in push to get Toyota plant", AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 26). Barbour was promptly assailed by lawmaker Ed Blackmon, himself a successful plaintiff's lawyer, who heads a judiciary committee in the lower house of the Mississippi legislature where he has helped to bottle up liability reform. Blackmun said he "doesn't believe tort reform played a role in Toyota's decision and said he guesses 'Maybe someone at Toyota owed (Barbour) a favor' and wrote the letter." (Geoff Pender, "House, Senate show little tort progress", AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 27; Shelia Hardwell Byrd, "Barbour says House needs chance to vote on tort reform", AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 29; "Letter shows state needs tort reform" (editorial), Natchez Democrat, Apr. 27; Julie Goodman, "Lawmaker accuses gov. of exploiting tort myth", Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Apr. 29).

[dixiechick2000]

"Mississippi may be hell on earth for human beings..."

Wow!

With all of your charm and good manners,
I'm surprised you're still single.

[wardaddy]

Mississippi may be hell on earth for human beings

Piss off Yankee snot. Didn't yer mama tell you to keep yer trap shut if you haven't something nice to say. You do or did have a mama right? We are a helluva lot more reliably conservative than you pissants up there and what sort of gratitude do you show for it? Derision and smug superiority. I lived in Manhattan for 8 years....decent enough for a young lad but you can have it now. I'd loathe raising a family there. (my apologies in advance to all decent bluebellies)