I've got the Red State Blues, y'all

[CatWoman]

Georgians loom large on obesity list

Think fried chicken, biscuits and gravy and pecan pie. What do these Southern classics add up to?

Numbers that make the South the fattest region in the country and Georgia among the flabbiest states, according to a federal government study released Thursday.

More than one in four Georgia adults is obese, earning the state a ranking of 8th fattest.

Twenty-eight percent of Georgians are obese. Mississippi had the highest ranking with 32 percent tipping the scales too far. Alabama and Tennessee are not far behind.

The national average is 25.6 percent.

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/stories/2008/07/17/fat_georgians.html

Georgia unemployment rate highest in 15 years

The jobless rate in Georgia leaped last month to the highest level it has reached in May since 1993.

The official rate rose from 5.3 percent in April to 5.8 percent in May, paralleling the large leap taken by the national unemployment rate.

increasingly difficult economic environment," said Michael Thurmond, state labor commissioner.

Higher unemployment rates often mean that the labor market has weakened. However, economists consider the rate to be a lagging and somewhat inexact indicator.

A slowing economy typically does not immediately shove jobless rates much higher. On the other hand, an improving economy is often accompanied by rising rates as more people seek work.

Critics often argue that the official jobless rate understates problems. It does not include people who are out of work and have not been looking for a job. And it does not include people who have worked even a little bit in the past month.

Moreover, the jobless rate is calculated from a more limited survey than the one that produces the monthly figure on job growth.

But watched over the months as a trend, the jobless rate often tells an important story.

Georgia's jobless rate is up about a third from a year ago, when it was 4.4 percent. It notched up to 4.5 percent in September and stayed there through the rest of the year. But starting in January, the rate began trending higher.

At the same time, other indicators showed economic growth slowing.

http://www.ajc.com/fulton/content/business/stories/2008/06/18/georgia_unemployment_rate.html

and yet these morans continue to vote overwhemingly Republican

[marmar]

1. There's Atlanta....and then there's Georgia.

I remember visiting once, and I was not prepared for the beyond-the-Perimeter shock!!!


:scared:

[arcadian]

2. Explain please.

Is there a point where you cross a line and all of a sudden you start hearing banjos?

:rofl:

[marmar]

3. "Is there a point where you cross a line and all of a sudden you start hearing banjos?"

Metaphorically, yes.

[CatWoman]

4. and actually

yes :)

[tbyg52]

6. Really.

We drove a couple of friends from WA around the little Texas town we lived in at the time, and they remarked: "Wow! It's like the deep South!" We replied: "No, it *is* the deep South....." (Dunno what they were expecting - cowboys, maybe?)

[BridgeTheGap]

5. Like Louisville and Kentucky - as a friend of mine once said when I asked him

what would Kentucky be without Louisville?
His answer: "Mississippi!"

[racaulk]

7. Atlanta resident here, and I'm right there with you.

And the dumbfucks around here don't care about the economy, finding jobs, gas prices, the housing crisis, rising food costs, or making ends meet. It's all gravy as long as the gays can't get married. :eyes: