Every single top 10 state in life expectancy is a blue state ... (Limbaugh, Congressmen)
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The petrochem industry and workers are a factor in high cancer rates but underground miners and black lung is a more direct correlation in lower lifespan in West Virginia and Kentucky without a doubt. I worked about 10 years in Azerbaijan, China, Mongolia, Saudi and Kuwait which all had terrible air quality....part of the reason I feel the need to eat very healthy and maintain an ideal weight and daily work on conditioning.
I was just mentioning the petrochemical factor as it applies to Oklahoma and Louisiana. The coal industry in West Virginia and Kentucky have played a role in low life expectancy. I've mentioned black lung disease alot. Being a coal miner can definitely shorten your life, at least in Appalachia. There is coal mining in Montana and Wyoming. It is conducted differently in those states.
Being a coal miner isn't the only way some people get sick. Water pollution is killing some people. Stuff that gets dumped into the streams. I watched a documentary showing a man flushing the toilet and the water turning black. I read a BBC article about water pollution in West Virginia. The bath tub featured in the photo, that's not a remodeled bathroom. That tub was stained from years of polluted tap water. Not all that different from what's happening in Flint,MI right now.
I will give you Mongolia's problems. Ulaanbataar is sprawling. People from the countryside are moving there. Some of those coming from the countryside stay in tents because they can't afford better housing. Many burn wood and coal during the winter (Ulaanbataar is the coldest national capital city in the world). In the winter, inversions occur, trapping the pollutants. This causes alot of health problems.
This is my theory about Wyoming. Wyoming has very few Blacks. However, a large part of the Black population works for the military or is retired military from what I've heard. https://www.city-data.com/forum/wyomi...-cheyenne.html
Something about the military, being in better physical shape, not being around the ghetto, that is a factor.
My guess about being in the military - is a sense of belonging or community. That can help with positive life outcomes, not to mention the social welfare benefits that come with it (though of course that is not a guarantee - there are military famlies and vets who have problems with their health too).
My guess about being in the military - is a sense of belonging or community. That can help with positive life outcomes, not to mention the social welfare benefits that come with it (though of course that is not a guarantee - there are military famlies and vets who have problems with their health too).
Military towns are huge ghettos. Overseas in the host countries the locals always refer to the American bases as the ghetto.
I was just mentioning the petrochemical factor as it applies to Oklahoma and Louisiana. The coal industry in West Virginia and Kentucky have played a role in low life expectancy. I've mentioned black lung disease alot. Being a coal miner can definitely shorten your life, at least in Appalachia. There is coal mining in Montana and Wyoming. It is conducted differently in those states.
Being a coal miner isn't the only way some people get sick. Water pollution is killing some people. Stuff that gets dumped into the streams. I watched a documentary showing a man flushing the toilet and the water turning black. I read a BBC article about water pollution in West Virginia. The bath tub featured in the photo, that's not a remodeled bathroom. That tub was stained from years of polluted tap water. Not all that different from what's happening in Flint,MI right now.
I will give you Mongolia's problems. Ulaanbataar is sprawling. People from the countryside are moving there. Some of those coming from the countryside stay in tents because they can't afford better housing. Many burn wood and coal during the winter (Ulaanbataar is the coldest national capital city in the world). In the winter, inversions occur, trapping the pollutants. This causes alot of health problems.
This is spot on, how did you know this?
They burn raw coal for heat in the winter in UB and it is horrible and even worse than China.
They burn raw coal for heat in the winter in UB and it is horrible and even worse than China.
I have a Bachelor's in Geography. Pollution is one of the things geographers look at.
I know all about China's pollution problems. I also understand that winds blow from the Gobi, bringing dust into China. China gets hit doubly. They get the point source pollution. And then Beijing get the sands of the Gobi blowing over it.
UB has pollution from the coal fires. Many people suffer from indoor air pollution because of the coal fires. Mongolia is also having water pollution issues from the mining industry.
My guess about being in the military - is a sense of belonging or community. That can help with positive life outcomes, not to mention the social welfare benefits that come with it (though of course that is not a guarantee - there are military famlies and vets who have problems with their health too).
The military does create a sense of belonging, a sense of community. I also suspect that Cheyenne's Black population has more of a chance to know one another. I never thought about welfare benefits that come with it. If one is a retired veteran, something to consider.
My main theory is this. One needs to be fit physically. One also needs to behave themselves. And some people join the military to get out of the ghetto. Many find the military safer than where they came from.
Blacks & Hispanics (on avg) don't live as long as Caucasians.
Also, lots of older folks flock to states like CA and Hawaii for the good weather when they're older.
CA and Hawaii also have a much higher percentage of east Asians, and east Asians on avg tend to live longer than any other racial group.
Please show me proof that genetics is the reason Blacks don't live as long as Whites or other groups. I'm not seeing much proof of that, just alot of environmental factors.
Places like Wise County are in a negative feedback loop.
Decent jobs long ago left places like that. The people who had skills and money and could leave largely did. What's left are a lot of elderly people and younger "low achievers." The best of the high school graduating classes leave places like that and largely don't return.
Much of that area doesn't have what we'd think of as modern infrastructure. Roads are mostly two-lane, winding, and difficult to get around in the winter. The county doesn't have much of a plowing budget. Cellular coverage and broadband are very spotty. Many areas don't have municipal water and are stuck on wells.
If you're looking to grow or expand a business, why would you do it in some place like Wise County with lousy infrastructure, a largely unskilled and perhaps untrainable labor force, and hours away from any real economic hub?
Alot of people underestimate the role geography can play in a place. Places that are hard to get to are not going to be attractive to business. In other states, areas such as what you've described, only pioneers could live out there. Places with little modern infrastructure, one has to be kind of like a pioneer to be there.
Uhhh ... geeze, yeah, somebody needs to pick up a history book: You. I mean, I can't believe somebody would even say that, that Southern democrats didn't switch to republicans.
'Uhhh...geeze'--congrats on using two of the most inarticulate words in the English language. You forgot 'ummmm.'
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You're using individual politicians as an excuse to avoid talking about the overall trend. And the reason you don't want to talk about the overall trend is because it clearly contradicts your claim that 'Southern democrats were liberal.'
I'll post again for you s-l-o-w-l-y: of 200 Democrats who were Dixicrats or voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, exactly ONE--Strom Thurmond--switched to the GOP. That is not 'individual politicians.' And it would seem to qualify as an 'overall trend' that evidently you don't want to talk about.
Prior to about 1960, the South was mostly democrats. It then started gravitating towards republicans. Nowadays it is mostly republican. This is, like, common knowledge.
Well you forgot 'ummm,' but you at least did throw in a 'like.' Actually the move of the South started in the 1950s, and continued to about 1994. Southern congressional districts were not fully majority GOP until 1994. See the book The End of Southern Exceptionalism by Schafer and Johnston, a pair of poli-sci academics. You'll be doing yourself a favor: your misconceptions about the 'big switch' will be forever corrected.
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And as I have already said multiple times, the reason why those Southern democrats switched parties from the democrats to the republicans, is because those Southern democrats tended to be conservative, and increasingly, the democratic party was no longer a place for conservatives.
Unbelievable I even have to explain that well-known fact of history.
Well at least you're consistent: you never let simple facts override your mythical misconceptions. Again:
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Originally Posted by travis t
Robert Byrd(D, WV) was king of pork as a segregationist, and king of pork after he disavowed segregation. William Fulbright (D, AR) advocated for higher federal education spending. Sam Ervin was left-wing hero of the Watergate hearings. Ernest Hollings (D,SC) was instrumental in the creation of SNAP (food stamps).
These were all southern dem segregationists; none were conservative. There were a handful in their ranks that could be called conservative such as James Eastland (D, MS), but the overwhelming majority were big gov't advocates--'liberals' in today's parlance.
Have you heard of the New Deal and Great Society? Pick up a history book sometime.
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