States' Rights: the right to be poor, fat, ignorant, and so much more

"The South shall rise again." Sho'-nuff, Bubba. Dream on. These states' rights states don't put much stock in progress - they're too dead set on taking the country back - way back - all the way back.

In a recent article, CNN writer Jack Cafferty asks, "What does it say that most of the ten poorest states are Republican?" I might add, "and mostly Southern."  Cafferty based his article on one written by Roland S. Martin.

A few ideas come to mind, most of them snarky, but none compelling enough to be definitive. A good question, though, as far as it goes. But there has to be more - more ties that bind, so to speak, and in more than one or two areas.

A wide angle lens is required in order to give us a broader and clearer picture. "Why is it that mostly Southern states have the highest poverty rates, the highest obesity and diabetes rates, the highest number of teen births, and the fewest high school graduates while being the most religious and mostly Republican?" The top ten states' rights states - or the bottom ten, depending on how you look at it - are as follows:

Poverty Rates

Cafferty and Martin are apparently basing their list of the poorest states on a Wall Street Journal article, which factors in  median income, poverty rates, unemployment, and lack of health insurance for 2009. Doing it this way, Mississippi is the poorest, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina.

If only the percentage of people living below the poverty level is taken into account, however, Mississippi still ranks first but is followed by Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico, Alabama and Texas, which are tied, Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. Source U.S. Census Bureau.

1. Mississippi - 17.9 %
2. Arkansas - 14.8
3. Kentucky - 14.4
4. West Virginia - 13.9
5. New Mexico - 13.6
6. Alabama and Texas are tied at 13.4
7. Louisiana - 13.3
8. Tennessee - 13.1
9. South Carolina - 12.9
10. Georgia - 12.7

Obesity 
It is well worth the link to CDC because the map begins in 1985 and clicks forward year by year to 2010. The trend toward fatness is quite astounding when viewed in this way.

1. Mississippi - 34.0 %
2. West Virginia - 32.5
3. Alabama - 32.2
4. South Carolina - 31.5
5. Kentucky - 31.3
6. Louisiana - 31.0
7. Michigan - 30.9
8. Tennessee - 30.8
9. Oklahoma - 30.4
10. Arkansas - 30.1

Ironic, isn't it, that these are the very segments of the population who are pushing back against Michelle Obama's school nutrition programs?

Diabetes 

From the Centers for Disease Control:

 

Gallup has slightly different results but CDC doesn't have a chart or offer any kind of statistics by states. When looking at the above map, for example, it is clear that Mississippi has the highest rate of diabetes, but ranks fourth in the Gallup chart below. This lack is unfortunate because it skews the results and doesn't provide a means to compare the direct relationship between obesity and diabetes by state.

 

Teen Births
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of all developed countries. The states with the highest teen birth rates per 1,000, ages 15-19 are:

1. Mississippi - 64.2 %

2. New Mexico - 63.9

3. Texas - 60.7

4. Oklahoma - 60.1

5. Arkansas - 59.3

6. Louisiana - 52.7

7. Kentucky - 51.3

8. Alabama - 50.7

9. Arizona - 50.6

9. Tennessee - 50.6

10. West Virginia - 49.8

High School Graduates
For persons 25 years and older. Reading from lowest to "highest."

1. Texas - 79.9 %
2. Mississippi - 80.4
3. California - 80.6
4. Kentucky - 81.7
5. Alabama - 82.1
6. Louisiana - 82.2
7. New Mexico and West Virginia are tied at 82.8
8. Tennessee - 83.1
9. South Carolina - 83.6
10. Georgia and Nevada are tied at 83.9

Religion (Gallup)

How telling that the most religious state has the highest teen birth rate.

Republican vs. Democrats

Summary of results of the 1996, 2000, 2004, and2008 presidential elections:

  States carried by the Republican in all four elections

  States carried by the Republican in three of the four elections

  States carried by each party twice in the four elections

  States carried by the Democrat in three of the four elections

  States carried by the Democrat in all four elections

SUMMARY:

Rank (# 1 being the highest rates)

CAT.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Poverty	MS	AR	KY	WV	NM	TX/AL	LA	TN	SC	GA
Obesity	MS	WV	AL	SC	KY	LA	MI	TN	OK	AR
Diabetes	WV	KY	AL	MS	TN	AR	OH	LA	OK	NC
Teen B	MS	NM	TX	OK	AR	LA	KY	AL	TN/AZ	WV
H.S.	TX	MS	CA	KY	AL	LA	NM/WV	TN	SC	GA/NV

 Religion (#1 being the highest)

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
MS	AL	SC	LA	UT	TN	AR	NC	GA	TX

Which states fall in the bottom ten the most?
Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee - 6 times
Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, West Virginia - 5
New Mexico and Texas - 4 times
Due to the diabetes mishmash, Mississippi really should be there six times.

So, I ask again: "Why is it that mostly Southern states have the highest poverty rates, the highest obesity and diabetes rates, the highest number of teen births, and the fewest high school graduates while being the most religious and mostly Republican?" Being from Tennessee, I hate to admit it, but I'd venture to guess that blessed ignorance is the single most tie that binds.

We Believe In Freedom of Religion Except for Muslims

". . . even the most Americanized Muslim secretly wants to replace the Constitution with Islamic Shariah law." ". . . Islam is inherently violent and incompatible with America." "I do believe everybody has a right to freedom of religion. . . .But Islam is not about a religion. It's a political government, and it's 100 percent against our Constitution." "A mosque is not just a place for worship. . . .It's a place where war is started, where commandment to do jihad start, where incitements against non-Muslims occur. It's a place where ammunition was stored."

Ground zero protesters in New York City? No. Constructing mosques and building Muslim community centers are meeting heated opposition all over the nation and on less hallowed ground than the one in Manhatten.

Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Republican candidates for governor and Congress denounced plans for a Muslim center near a subdivision. (They were defeated in the August 5 primary.)

A group called Former Muslims United put up a billboard saying “Stop the Murfreesboro Mosque.” The group’s president is Nonie Darwish, also the founder of Arabs for Israel, who spoke against Islam in Murfreesboro at a fund-raising dinner for Christians United for Israel, an evangelical organization led by the Rev. John Hagee.

Camie Ayash, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, said "her group was stunned when what began as one person raising zoning questions about the new mosque evolved into mass protests with marchers waving signs about Shariah."

“A lot of Muslims came to the U.S. because they respect the Constitution,” she said. “There’s no conflict with the U.S. Constitution in Shariah law. If there were, Muslims wouldn’t be living here.”

Temecula, Calif.:: Last June, "members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby."

A Muslim community has been there for about 12 years and has expanded to 150 families who have outgrown their makeshift worship space in a warehouse, said Mahmoud Harmoush, the imam, a lecturer at California State University, San Bernardino. The group wants to build a 25,000-square-foot center, with space for classrooms and a playground, on a lot it bought in 2000.

Mr. Harmoush said the Muslim families had contributed to the local food bank, sent truckloads of supplies to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and participated in music nights and Thanksgiving events with the local interfaith council.

One activist who is against building the mosque is Tea Party member Diana Serafin.

“As a mother and a grandmother, I worry,” Ms. Serafin said. “I learned that in 20 years with the rate of the birth population, we will be overtaken by Islam, and their goal is to get people in Congress and the Supreme Court to see that Shariah is implemented. My children and grandchildren will have to live under that.”

 "I do believe everybody has a right to freedom of religion. . . .But Islam is not about a religion. It's a political government, and it's 100 percent against our Constitution."

Sheboygan, Wis.: Several Christian ministers "led a noisy fight against a Muslim group that sought permission to open a mosque in a former health food store bought by a Muslim doctor."

The conflict was settled when the Town Executive Council voted unanimously to grant a permit to use the former health food stored as a prayer space.

There are almost 2000 mosques in the United States.

A two-year study by professors at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy and the University of North Carolina on American Muslims and terrorism concluded that contemporary mosques are actually a deterrent to the spread of militant Islam and terrorism. "It disclosed that many mosque leaders had put significant effort into countering extremism by building youth programs, sponsoring antiviolence forums and scrutinizing teachers and texts."

Feeding the resistance is a growing cottage industry of authors and bloggers — some of them former Muslims — who are invited to speak at rallies, sell their books and testify in churches. Their message is that Islam is inherently violent and incompatible with America.

But they have not gone unanswered. In each community, interfaith groups led by Protestant ministers, Catholic priests, rabbis and clergy members of other faiths have defended the mosques. Often, they have been slower to organize than the mosque opponents, but their numbers have usually been larger.

In a related article, Craine's New York reported that the new Museum of Tolerance in Manhatten opened its doors this week. Its mission is to help enlighten visitors on issues of discrimination, prejudice and social inequality.

But the museum's financial backer, the Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles, says it cannot tolerate the planned location near Ground Zero for a mosque and Islamic community center.

Rabbi Meyer May, the Wiesenthal Center's executive director, on Thursday called the mosque's proposed location “insensitive” to the people who experienced the 9/11 attack that killed nearly 3,000 in 2001 and are still dealing with “extraordinarily painful wounds.”

“Religious freedom does not mean being insensitive...or an idiot,” said Mr. May, who led the push for the museum's New York location.

The following video is on Progressive Eruptions and illustrates the silliness and stupidity of bigotry.

The Bible over Alabama

Bradley Byrne is running hard in Alabama's gubernatorial primary. But the former Community College System Chairman keeps sticking his foot in his mouth and offending every Bible thumper in the heart of Dixie.

The priority here is not the economy, or education, or roads, or health care, or jobs. It's all about Byrne's views on the bible.

Back in November, the Mobile Press-Register quoted candidate Bradley Byrne as saying, “I believe there are parts of the Bible that are meant to be literally true and parts that are not.”

Oops. His Bible thumping opponents are lapping it up and it's not a statement that's likely to disappear any time soon. I can just see these prissed up southern belles at their Bible study saying, "I do declare. Why you know he's going to hell for not believing. Land's sake!"

The pot-bellied men are standing around in groups at the Sunday-go-to-meetin'-service. "Why that low down son-of-a-bitch. We ought to go out thar and tar and feather him."

It has followed Byrne everywhere, even to a Piggly Wiggly grocery store on Wednesday, where he held a press conference in front of the collard greens. He was there to announce his largest endorsement yet – this one from the 4,000-member Alabama Retail Association (ARA).

Executives of Ragland Brothers Retail Cos., Inc., which owns Piggly Wiggly, and the store’s chief financial officer and immediate past ARA chairman, Darrell Bourne, stood with Byrne while he thanked them for their support.

Byrne practically had a pig calling contest to "clear up the misunderstanding over his views on the Bible. He insisted he had been misquoted."
“I believe the Bible is true,” he said. “Every word of it.”

But these Bible thumpers aren't real quick to forgive. “To err is human; to forgive, infrequent.”  said American satirist Franklin P. Adams.

After The Huntsville Times ran a story about the news conference, several visitors to the paper’s Web site made it clear they would not support someone with suspect views about the Bible, regardless of the candidate’s positions on other, arguably more pertinent, issues.
“Just got a call from a person at my Church letting me know about this,” one commenter said. “My family will not be shopping at Ragland Piggly Wiggly stores anymore or anything else they own. I don’t shop at places that think it is OK to stand next to people who don’t believe the Bible is all true.”

So what happened to Separation of Church and State? What happened to Freedom of Religion? Aren't these guaranteed in the First Amedment? Do we even know what or where the First Amendment is? I think I've heard of it. Isn't it some sort of socialist document?