"Oh, THAT Red State!"


While we continue to parse the red/blue state divide like generals in the civil war, I wonder if a pair of articles in the New York Times the other day doesn't sum it up nicely.

On the front of one section there were two articles. One dealt with the pharmacological options now available, and readily turned to, by people who have a hard time "dealing" during the holidays. It went on at some length about the use of antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs as palliatives for what is, apparently, a "very difficult time of the year." Now, don't get me wrong. I think these drugs have made a world of difference in the lives of many people. But taking them like ribbon candy during the holidays just seems a bit, well, over the top - and yes, I'll say it, a bit like a big city, urban sort of thing.

But if that article alone didn't make 'em shake their heads out in Muscogee, the next one surely did. It dealt with the latest procedure in plastic surgery which is making a lot of heads turn...down; vaginal rejuvenation. Yes. Women are going in and spending a great deal of money to have their most private bits nipped and tucked and countoured and shaped. At the risk of being called crude, I must admit, I've always thought that the exterior femaie reproductive organs are kind of a mess, anyway. But that's just me.

So when the Democratic Party gets dinged for being the party of the New York Times reading, latte-drinking weinies, this is what they're talking about....