NASCAR and Southern Hospitality

Now that Michelle Obama has been booed during an event honoring our troops some folks are wondering whatever happened to southern hospitality.

Any 62 year old southern white who is honest knows the answer.

It was for whites only.

And even then, only for a certain class.

And, I have to point out, it was at Homestead-Miami in that unnamed state to our south. Making the homefolks proud.

maybe I could move back to Minnesota.

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The New South

Parts of it look very much like the old South I grew up in. And it is always amusing to watch various pundits who didn't grow up in the South, or outside of a big city, or in some few cases, even in America (e.g. Frum and Sullivan) try to make sense of it.

Here comes a little quote from a New Southerner now:

And in Arkansas, a new Republican state lawmaker and champion of the Confederate Battle Flag, was asked this week what that flag means to him. "It's a symbol of Jesus Christ above all else," Loy Mauch said. "It's a symbol of Biblical government."

What flag would Jesus fly?

somehow I can't believe it would be of a slave owning, racist, oligarchy, but I could be wrong.

Someone in South Carolina gets it right!

Due to the nasty, borderline unfair nature of those last two posts about South Carolina, our beloved neighbor to the south, I have decided to let someone who seems to be sane and is also a Republican gubernatorial candidate, SC Attorney Gen'l Henry McMaster have the last word:

The behavior of my opponents, their campaigns and their supporters over the last few weeks has not served our state well. In fact, it's been embarrassing.

South Carolina is a wonderful state, blessed with talented people, abundant resources and unlimited potential. Success is ours for the taking. And it's time we start acting like it.

For the sake of our state and our people, I'm calling on them to cut this nonsense out right now. They should rein in their attention-starved surrogates, re-focus on the important issues at hand, and renew their commitment to putting South Carolina's interest above their own self-interest.

Because in the end, any short-term personal political gain they may earn comes at the expense of South Carolina's bright future.

So, does this mean his campaign is toast?

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Up date on South Carolina post

That last post? The one that left us wondering why an ethnic slur on Arabs would be hurled at someone of Indian descent? Or why her Sikh Indian father would be concerned about a "war over there"? Against Muslims? Well, Nikki Haley, the Indian American convert to Christianity Republican cutie pie is NOT going to take this laying down. And good for her.

From her spokesone:

“Jake Knotts represents all that is wrong with South Carolina politics. He’s an embarrassment to our state and to the Republican Party. South Carolina is so much better than this, and the people of our state will make that quite clear next Tuesday.”

Meanwhile Jake Knotts, the buffoon in question, makes a half-hearted attempt at an apology. Sort of.

“I still believe Ms. Haley is pretending to be someone she is not, much as Obama did, but I apologize to both for an unintended slur.”

I still believe that Knotts is a drooling cretinous ignorant fool, but I apologize preemptively for any unintended slur.

some drooling cretinous ignorant fools may be offended.

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Carrying South Carolina to new heights

You may have thought that Joe Wilson, Mark Sanford, and whoever is not telling the truth in the Haley affair had carried South Carolina's reputation about as far down as it could get.

Oh no. There is this guy on Nikki Haley, much embattled but leading candidate for governor:

Not only did state Sen. Jake Knotts refer to Haley as a "f#!king raghead" he also went on a tear about her being a crypto-Sikh pretending to be Christian and part of some wild conspiracy theory Haley being a stalking horse for turban-wearing foreigners trying to undermine South Carolina's God-fearing culture.

According to the Free Times, Knotts claimed Haley's father is sending letters to Indian saying that his daughter is the first Sikh in the United States running for high office and that "we're at war over there."

Where do they get these guys?

Oh yeah. South Carolina. And the Republican party there.

couldn't we just build a fence along our southern border?

The more I see of humans ...

I heard this today from Roy Blount Jr's reading of one of his books on the cd player as I commuted:

Dogs, unless they are overbred, are essentially Southern.

Our little lummox had something to say about this when I told him, but it didn't make much sense.

probably that Wilkes County southern accent I have trouble with.

Southern Comfort

Is it true that southerners are more prone to violence than people from other parts of the country? Don't know, but my gut reaction would by "Hell, yes! You all have a problem with that!!?" I noticed when I lived in NYC for four months that New Yorkers routinely said things to each other clearly NOT expecting a physical confrontation to result, and our southern students just as clearly expected just that.

Maybe this item is evidence:

Pitchers from the South are more likely to hit batters

You might call this one "Sentences to Ponder." It only applies, however, when the batter is white.

I found this info here. Most of the comments seem to take issue with the report. Except for this one:

Southerners are, true to stereotype, nicer and more polite in default situations but much more aggressive when their honor is threatened. Southerners have higher rates of "crimes of passion" but lower rates of regular premeditated crimes. Southerners are also more likely to forgive someone who committed a crime of passion or a crime to uphold his honor.

Come to think of it, the comments are as interesting as the post.