West Virginia has achieved a great feat: they have stolen Western Pennsylvania's identity as Alabama Plus Philly, by just being Alabama. They have slapped the label "racists R us" on their state flag, and gone out in a blaze of primary glory by frightening impresionable 20-something Obama volunteers with the individual displays of ignorance we've heard about from your mountaineers (Indiana has done their share, too.)
So West Virginia, I ask you:
What are the chances that when those 20-something college students grow up, graduate from college and go out into corporate America, they will be the least bit interested in returning to your state to start business, create jobs, or make a life for themselves that could lift your state economically, the way many rehabilitated southern states (think Tennessee, North Carolina, even South Carolina and Georgia) have done?
How much money do you think the Obama campaign will spend in your state during the general campaign, pumping much-needed advertising dollars into your television stations and newspapers? Note to you: Obama has probably written you off. Hence, the paltry time he spent in your state before, or after the primary. And the media have written you off too, as one of those old fashioned bastions of recalcitrant racism that really don't matter in the fall because they always vote Republican.
And how do you attract tourism to your arguably beautiful state, with its breathtaking mountain vistas, when you now are thought of by affluent, college educated blue staters as something akin to Birmingham or Memphis, circa 1960? I can tell you that placed like Birmingham and Memphis are tourist destinations I would put on my list today, and my former state of Colorado, which once was rampant with Klan activity, is a great destination for travelers of all races. Your state? Not so much.
So enjoy your brush with Hillary's non-existent destiny, West Virginia. I'm not saying you had to go Obama, but the way you went out? Not pretty. Indiana will escape your fate because it showed itself to have a pretty even balance of ideologies. Same with North Carolina, and even Pennsylvania, which apparently, if you believe Pat Buchanan, is the new headquarters of the white power movement. See, Pennsylvania has the Liberty Bell.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
