as they say here in Southern Appalachia. Wow! I would never believe I would type that in any group.

How are y'all gonna clean the whole damn state?

Oh, have you met Juantia Jean over there?

http://juanitajean.com/2011/12/09/is-it-possible-to-have-negative-poll-numbers/

I guess keeping him as governor INSTEAD of PRESIDENT is better, but good lord we need him to just go away! LOL

Probably because I love The Dixie Chicks, and I had a real thing for riot grrrrrls back in the early 90's.

My whole family is from the Deep South. I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. But most of the time, I really feel like the South is not my place anymore. I love the open, forward-thinking liberalism of the Seattle area, where I have lived for quite a while now.

No one needs to tell me that there is a grand old tradition of Southern Progressivism. I just want to see more of it. I'm going to add this group to my subscription list in the hopes that we can turn the South from deep red to true blue in my lifetime.

Thanks for the invite. It's good to be here.

I think I did.

So, I am down here holding onto what left handed side of political sanity still exists
and you are up there trying to keep folks from drifting too far over to Boise.

This group could become a good place for us to hear what is going on in various Southern states, don'tcha think?

It's kind of like we traded places.

So what do you think about Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida in 2008? A fluke? Or is it a portent for more comprehensive progressivization of the South in the years and election cycles to come?

Virginia has a Repub Gov
No Carolina has First female and a Dem, but has Virginia Foxx, ( barf barf)
And Fla needs to secede again.
Well, maybe not N. Fla.

Trouble is, the Rove/Alec plan has quietly been taking over state houses and re-districting states while Dems are standing around arguing about obstructionist behavior.

It feels like we are going backwards.

That's jus my lil ole opinion, tho.

Those are the opinions I trust the most.

I'll just have to console myself with the possibility that everything is cyclical, and that we can restore the South's glacially-slow move to the left...

some of us in Central Florida are trying our best to save this state from itself
By the way, this ship open to Tampa boys?

My county voted blue.


Trying to get bluer.

Terry mc Auliffe is the va governor. we also have a dem attorney general and a dem lt. governor. The repubs control the house and senate unfortunately.

Never thought I would have reason to be pleased with our Repub. Sen. Jeff Sessions.....

Hows yuh momma 'n them?

Southern friendliness is still alive and well in small towns.

I haven't heard the English language spoken with the proper flourish in a coon's age.

I miss country ham too.

This last time, I missed it terribly and missed the Southern voices and sensibility.
And craziness.
People down here are FUNNY...delightfully so.
could not wait to get back here, and I am never ever leaving.

I am so sorry you cannot hear what I hear every day.
Dunno how far away you are.
I guess the closest thing is movies or ..?

Ham and sweet potatoes and field grown local corn and watermelon and the smell of honey suckle.
Oh...and the mockingbirds.
Do you have them, at least , where you are?

If I go much further west I'll get salt water in my shoes.

July flies and lightning bugs...

I worked the family farm for several years. We had a new peach orchard in a low spot in front of the house. I couldn't sleep one summer night and stepped outside. Apparently, every firefly in the area had decided that orchard was the place to be. There must have been a thousand of them down there. It looked like an Elton John concert.

There was a lot to dislike but some things just can't be replaced anywhere else in the whole world.

Carry on and bring more folks over.

I gotta get some shut eye.

Night..

.....

I just got back from The Big Pig with a box of Moonpies and some Cheerwine.
Gonna party down....

We'll start in Arkansas!

But you have that snake Tim Griffin as a Rep., I think, still?

I am from the double deep south, The late Panama Canal Zone.
Raised in Georgia and Kentucky though.
Sorry about that Mitchie and Rand thing y'all.

We are trying to get this group more active, hope you can join in.

I personally would like to see local Southern states news here, political or other wise.
God knows Texas has plenty of fodder.

I moved back to Texas after being gone for 22 years.

I lived and worked in Nebraska, Iowa, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. I lived in the Milwaukee area for over 20 years.

It's good to be back in Texas, however........................ WHAT THE F*CK HAPPENED TO THIS STATE?

They believe the conservanazi propaganda and are somewhat ate up with the dumbass.
Anyway, I retired here. I got tired of freezing my butt off up North. I don't miss the frigid temps, nor the snow and ice.

I recall your name, but not sure I remember where you are.

How was your Christmas?

A windstorm howled in. The power was off for many people most of Christmas Day and they didn't get to cook their meals.

Where I was, it just shook the windows and the lights blinked on an off for a few hours. It was cold enough that I had to turn the heat on.

Later my internet and phone service went off for five hours and the water pressure got weak. Overall, a nice quiet day for me at least. What did you guys do?

Things were rougher for others, as you can see by this news story:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Rainy-Christmas-signals-return-of-wet-weather-pattern-136203208.html?skipthumb=Y

I had a log house on Whidbey Island, and thankfully a BIG wood stove, the storm hit that morning,
and all over Puget Sound people were left staring at giant uncooked turkeys.
I put mine back in a clean secure garbage can on the back porch ( the temps stayed cold enough for days)
and made chowder on the stove instead.
but after 3 days it did get a bit old with no power, no well pump w/o electricity, but I could melt snow on the stove for flushing the toilets, I had, and still have, 20 old fashioned kerosene lamps, most of them handed down from my G'ma.
We played card and board games and stayed warm by the light and heat of the lamps and stove,
the kids hauled sleeping bags down to the living room by the stove, we had tons of cut wood.
One of our most memorable holidays in Puget Sound.

I'm 19 and going to college here, I live in the state that brought us Martin Luther King Junior, and President Jimmy Carter (bless his heart for his troubled presidency). I am glad to say that the Dreams of MLKJ are a Reality, where a white man and a black man can sit together as equals, my first ever best friend was black (I am white). God made us all equal y'all white, black, brown, tan, yellow, red, man, woman, homosexual, and heterosexual, just cause we live in the south don't mean we gotta discriminate, they are all our "Brothers" and "Sisters" and should be treated equally and with respect (Newt).

now if we could only get rid of the Newt which makes us all Green with the need to vomit.

Hope you come on in the group and post some political going ons from Georgia.

i haven't paid much attention to him but until a year an a half ago i thought my life course was engineering so i haven't paid too much attention to politics until recently. I am going into politics but even then i could change my mind.

still I am going towards politics in a hope of changing the backward conservatives, of which there are too numerous to count, and getting us on the right track (or should i say left track ). My Ultimate Goal: to make the World a better place

Glad you have this forum. Maybe I can learn a thing or two about how to tolerate the vast amount of right-wing hatred and ignorance here in East TN. They've even started indoctrinating the kids who are spewing the strangest lies and BS! It makes us so sick we have to turn away and concentrate on brighter things - otherwise we feel overwhelmed with grief.

And we need to contribute what we can, so it stays.

Taking over the schools is one prong of a well thought out plan by the Reich Wing.
The only way to stop it is to become active and organized.
THEY are active and organized, but they DO back down if people will stand up to them.

I live a state south of you, you have to remember the part about ignorance, they are raised to worship Faux news, which we all know makes its commerce in Lies, they commerce in lies we deal in truth, facts. you give them a good dose of the facts and you can rock their worlds. I once did a report on the healthcare reform to a class O' Conservatives I used the facts minds changed that day, little less hate little more realization.

I gotta say though there are more kids in Young Republicans Clubs than there are in the boy and girl scouts. Its like the Hitler Youth really really disturbing.

Hey, can anyone tell me what it's like to live in a small-town Southern community. I am left-of-center and definitely pro-choice/progressive. Is it really as bad as it sounds?

tis a whole different way of life.
I am surrounded by Republicans, and worse, where I live, but thankfully people here live by the rules of Southern behavior.
Folks are very nice and polite on the outside, and unless you know them quite well ( which takes years) you will not know what they are really thinking. They strike up a conversation at the drop of a hat, everywhere. And they ask what I considered to be personal questions..
where are you from, what does your husband do, ( they don't think to ask what YOU do,but feel free to tell them, in vague terms)
and they will ask "do you know so and so, "or "are you related to __________"
What they are trying to do is to "place " you, to figure out how to relate to you. It sounds nosy to those of us used to a different culture, but is considered a polite necessity down here.
Relationships are based on kinship or connections, and they talk about people a LOT.
For instance, they will start out talking about someone who had a car accident, say, and suddenly go into that persons entire genealogy, for the past 3 generations, which sounds like the most boring babble you ever heard, esp.since you can't get a word in edgewise.
except it is not babble, it has a meaning, it is a social lubricant and gets to be downright fun to listen to.
You will be asked what church you go to. If you do not go to a church, it is best to say "I was raised Methodist"
unless the person you are talking to is a Methodist, then you can say "Presbyterian" unless you ARE a Baptist, for real, then say that.
Everyone will be happy, they have "placed" you.
You will NOT be asked about politics at first conversations. Religion and politics are not topics of discussion unless you know someone very well. It is considered more important to be polite and mannerly and social, and folks know that topics of politics, religion and race are not a good idea if you do not know someone very well.
You WILL hear people say jaw dropping crap, eventually, once you have talked to them more than 3-4 times.
Tis best to react as any well bred person would ,when some one has accidentally farted.
Ignore it, and have a subject changer sentence ready to use. they will get the message and you can still have communication about other things that are more important. That is how I handled the roofer and the electrician and other folks.
confrontation is a no-no. Yelling is a no-no. There are dozens of polite ways to indicate disagreement, but still remain conversational.
I emphasize all this because in a small southern town, half the people are related to the other half, and word spreads rapidly about folks. There is a high value on everyone getting along, cause you never know when you will need help from anyone.
People born and bred down here have 300 years of roots, and it is a strong strong feeling for them. Respect that, and you will go far in being accepted.
Took me years to figure out all this. At first it felt like I had been plunked down in the middle of some weird planet of people who made NO sense at all. But I quickly realized I was the outsider, and it was up to me to learn the language of this "foreign" population.
Would not even think of living anywhere else.

Watch out...the south can grow on you very insidiously, you might not even notice until you move away and find yourself suddenly homesick for it.

It's even pretty bad near the big cities here in TX (we relocated for a job here about 10 yrs ago). I post on here because the only thing I can talk to people about down here is my kids. I can't go near the topics of politics, religion or damned near anything else without getting blank stares. And even discussing children it's iffy ...

Welcome to DU - you're going to need a place like this to relax and vent.

I've been living in NY for far too many years but this is home now.

RAISE YOUR VOICES FELLOW DEMOCRATS.It's time we take a stand. WENDY FOR GOVERNOR 2014.

Howdy, ya'll!!!

Hope you can post often to the group.

I'm mentally ready to pack up and moved back down south again, if only because my aching back is tired of shoveling. *L*

But egads, it's beautiful here...

Ithas been pletny cold, for many many weeks, here.
Unreal.

I mean, yeah... it's Flori-duh... but still...

My contact with the Democratic Party in my state went like this:

I submitted a question by email--"when is the next public meeting"?

I got this answer something like this: Thank you for your interest. Please submit your donations to our local address..####

Gee, that was discouraging!

I believe Dems down here are a recluse breed.

Real ones are as rare as a right turn on a Nascar track.

Well, here's one more Southern Democrat, so time to get ready!

It's an election year! We got some sortin' out to do.

I thought Democrats in Alabama, especially white Democrats, were as rare as hen's teeth, but I have found that not to be the case over the years. We just keep a low profile.

.. switch the channels on TV's in public places from FOX News to CNN or even MSNBC when no one is looking?

Whenever I am in the local county hospital, I switch the channels. The waiting rooms are usually empty anyhow, so it is easy to do.

Does Perry honestly think those glasses are gonna make him smarter???

You mean My wife and I are not the only (shes is a DEM) I am a left leaning independent)
Lefty's here? LOL
If your parents want to retire in FL make sure they head further south than Panama City.. Like Tampa or all the way to the the Keys.
When w came down to help care for them we had no idea what we were getting into. A "it will do for a few years to, 12 years OMG. I really want out. We can't leave till the job we took on is over.

I first landed in Lake City Fl and worked there for 2 years.
Interestingly, Stark Prison is there, which is where Ted Bundy ended up.

Best part of Fla. for me was a 2 day visit to St. Augustine, which has to rank right up there with New Orleans for being "like no place else"
with the added charm of feeling very very VERY old.
Had zero knowledge of Fla. history, or of how old the area was, back in '87, but have been educating myself rapidly, esp. once computers were available.

I travel well, so living in the South was/is a fun adventure. "When in Rome...etc".
People here amaze and amuse me, and are very tolerant of a "Yankee" in their midst, no matter how many times I point out I am from the West Coast, not the North.
When they say (in that tone we know so well) " Yew ain't from around here, are ya?"
I reply half apologetically, with a warm smile, " Well, I wasn't born here, but I got here just as soon as I could"
and everyone relaxes.