Fattest counties in US

[Dutch Uncle]

A fair point, see my post about Trump and Limbaugh using bone spurs and anal cysts to avoid the draft

We've elected two draft-dodgers to become President. If anyone said that in Congress in the 1970s, they'd have been laughed out of Washington.

The Democrats have often been openly hostile to the military for decades. Sure, they "tie the yellow ribbon around the old oak tree", but they don't sign up like Southerners have traditionally done. It's not just that "poverty" excuse either although I touched on that in another post.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckd...ilitary-volunteers-call-home/?sh=19dbdb0c534c

Today, contrary to popular myth, members of the U.S. Armed Forces are mostly drawn from the middle class, with the lowest income quintile being slightly underrepresented, and the highest quartile being even less represented, with about 17% of enlisted personnel coming from the top 20% of neighborhoods by income. Further, 92% of accessions to active duty have a high school diploma, compared to 90% of adults age 25 and older.

But as representative of the nation as our armed forces are, there are stark regional differences in the makeup of our military, with the South contributing more than its fair share of personnel and the Northeast largely lagging behind, with a few exceptions.

 

[Cypress]

Not that I know of. Many affluent people actually joined the military of their own volition during periods like WW 2. For example George Welsh, heir to the Welsh grape jelly etc., fortune volunteered and became a pilot, eventually being an ace in the Pacific. He was one of the few pilots during the Pearl Harbor attack that got airborne and shot down several Japanese planes.
Al Gore volunteered during the Vietnam era and became a journalist in the Army seeing no combat.
Many movie stars of the WW II and Korea era volunteered or were drafted. Interestingly, John Wayne got a number of deferments due to having children and other exemptions.
Teddy Roosevelt volunteered.

I think today most celebrities would go the Trump route if there were a draft.

Trump is more of an anomaly. I can't find any reference online to Limbaugh ever being drafted so I doubt that one.

I am always hesitant to compare the WW2 generation to the Vietnam War and Iraq War generations.

Our nation was attacked in WW2 and there was an existential threat to us from Nazi Germany and militaristic Imperial Japan.

On the flipside, Americans were being asked to go kill Vietnamese and Iraqis who had never attacked us, and for which there was no evidence of an existential threat to our nation.

It is much easier to get people to volunteer and fight when we have been attacked and it is self evident our nation faces grave peril.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

so you are saying people did not get paid to sit at home, no extra $300/week, no rent moratorium. Have you got a link proving all that?

No, but thanks for proving my point. Hopefully you'll be on the front lines the next time Trump orders an attack on America. The very front.

 

[Cypress]

Not that I know of. Many affluent people actually joined the military of their own volition during periods like WW 2. For example George Welsh, heir to the Welsh grape jelly etc., fortune volunteered and became a pilot, eventually being an ace in the Pacific. He was one of the few pilots during the Pearl Harbor attack that got airborne and shot down several Japanese planes.
Al Gore volunteered during the Vietnam era and became a journalist in the Army seeing no combat.
Many movie stars of the WW II and Korea era volunteered or were drafted. Interestingly, John Wayne got a number of deferments due to having children and other exemptions.
Teddy Roosevelt volunteered.

I think today most celebrities would go the Trump route if there were a draft.

Trump is more of an anomaly. I can't find any reference online to Limbaugh ever being drafted so I doubt that one.

I am always hesitant to compare the WW2 generation to the Vietnam War and Iraq War generations.

Our nation was attacked in WW2 and there was an existential threat to us from Nazi Germany and militaristic Imperial Japan.

On the flipside, Americans were being asked to go kill Vietnamese and Iraqis who had never attacked us, and for which there was no evidence of an existential threat to our nation.

It is much easier to get people to volunteer and fight when we have been attacked and it is self evident our nation faces grave peril.

I do not blame people for not wanting to fight in Vietnam or Iraq.

 

[Cypress]

We've elected two draft-dodgers to become President. If anyone said that in Congress in the 1970s, they'd have been laughed out of Washington.

The Democrats have often been openly hostile to the military for decades. Sure, they "tie the yellow ribbon around the old oak tree", but they don't sign up like Southerners have traditionally done. It's not just that "poverty" excuse either although I touched on that in another post.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckd...ilitary-volunteers-call-home/?sh=19dbdb0c534c

Today, contrary to popular myth, members of the U.S. Armed Forces are mostly drawn from the middle class, with the lowest income quintile being slightly underrepresented, and the highest quartile being even less represented, with about 17% of enlisted personnel coming from the top 20% of neighborhoods by income. Further, 92% of accessions to active duty have a high school diploma, compared to 90% of adults age 25 and older.

But as representative of the nation as our armed forces are, there are stark regional differences in the makeup of our military, with the South contributing more than its fair share of personnel and the Northeast largely lagging behind, with a few exceptions.

I agree there is generally a stronger martial tradition in the South. If nothing else, it is self evident from all the private military academies and prep schools dotted throughout the south.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Not that I know of. Many affluent people actually joined the military of their own volition during periods like WW 2. For example George Welsh, heir to the Welsh grape jelly etc., fortune volunteered and became a pilot, eventually being an ace in the Pacific. He was one of the few pilots during the Pearl Harbor attack that got airborne and shot down several Japanese planes.
Al Gore volunteered during the Vietnam era and became a journalist in the Army seeing no combat.
Many movie stars of the WW II and Korea era volunteered or were drafted. Interestingly, John Wayne got a number of deferments due to having children and other exemptions.
Teddy Roosevelt volunteered.

I think today most celebrities would go the Trump route if there were a draft.

Trump is more of an anomaly. I can't find any reference online to Limbaugh ever being drafted so I doubt that one.

Agreed on celebrities, but a look at Congress proves it would be all the rich and self-entitled. As my previous link states, it's the Middle-Class who keep saving our nation's bacon yet both the Democrats and the Republicans continually abuse the Middle-Class one way or another.

As for that draft-dodger Trump gave a medal to there's this:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/626968-military-classifications
Page 4.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

I agree there is generally a stronger martial tradition in the South. If nothing else, it is self evident from all the private military academies and prep schools dotted throughout the south.

All of which are open to any American. Just a guess, but I bet there used to be a lot of private military schools in the north and West coast (Trump went to New York Military Academy) but they eventually closed their doors because Liberals, like Trump, hate the military.

Even Trump's alma mater has been continually on the edge of closure: New York Military Academy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Military_Academy#Financial_difficulties

Financial difficulties
Due to financial problems and enrollment that had dwindled to 145 students, the school was scheduled to close in June 2010.[8][9] However, a group of alumni and local business people created a plan to save the school, raising almost $6 million of financing in a matter of weeks, and expecting to sell off some less-utilized portions of the campus.[10][11]

The academy failed to open in September 2015 for the fall semester, and instead headed to bankruptcy auction.[12][13] On September 30, NYMA was auctioned for $15.825 million to the Chinese-owned Research Center on Natural Conservation Inc., a non-profit corporation led by billionaire Vincent Tianquan Mo,[14] Chairman and CEO of SouFun Holdings, an NYSE-listed company, also operating as Fang Holdings Ltd., one of China's largest real estate internet portals.[14] The foundation also purchased the nearby E.H. Harriman Estate in 2011 and the former Pace University's 37-acre campus in Briarcliff Manor in 2017.[15] The school reopened on November 2, 2015, with "a handful of returning students" and a recruitment drive.[16][17] For 2016–17, the academic year began with a total of 29 students.[18] By 2019 the school had grown to a size of 100 male and female Cadets both day and boarding with 12 nations represented and an additional 1,000 students attending special programs throughout the year.

 

[Moosakofsky]

I fiind it hard to believe people still talk about dodging the draft during Vietnam , especially Vietnam a useless unjust war where we were the bad guys.
I just watched a documentary on Muhammad Ali and he’s practically a saint for his stand.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

I think it’s cultural, but also poverty, bad food is cheaper.

That's very true, and the cause of most of it.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

When I go there to the beach I see the young college people working out, running on the beach and menus in the better eateries have some healthy choices.
All the same, I go to their piggly wiggly or Food Lion, I'm the only one loading up on stir fry ingredients. One lady saw me pick out some ginger and she asked me what I do with that.
I think they are simply a decade behind in most things, especially healthy living. Many are just too old to care of course. Lots of people still chain smoke the old school cigs.

I don't mind because I do like to pork out when I get there. "Uber Driver, please pull into the first
restaurant with a sign featuring a fluorescent cartoon pig with a giant smile on his face" "Yes Sir!"
"Do you want to go to the one beneath the giant billboard of Jesus stigmata damning your soul or the one next to
the night crawler stand?" "Oh, Jesus please"

I'm going to Charleston in a couple of weeks, can't wait to gain 5 pounds.

LOL @ Jesus billboard.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

I am always hesitant to compare the WW2 generation to the Vietnam War and Iraq War generations.

Our nation was attacked in WW2 and there was an existential threat to us from Nazi Germany and militaristic Imperial Japan.

On the flipside, Americans were being asked to go kill Vietnamese and Iraqis who had never attacked us, and for which there was no evidence of an existential threat to our nation.

It is much easier to get people to volunteer and fight when we have been attacked and it is self evident our nation faces grave peril.

I do not blame people for not wanting to fight in Vietnam or Iraq.

The cultural aspects between the generations are very diverse. You've mentioned only a few.

Prior to two Democratic Presidents getting the US into two World Wars, the US has been traditionally isolationist, soundly protected by two oceans. Even when the US did venture out, it was of short duration. The Spanish-American War and Banana Wars being relatively short in duration.

Korea was a different kind of war as was Vietnam because the nation faced a different kind of threat: a nuclear threat capable of reaching across the oceans as easily as Trump reaches for the butter at dinner.

Different threats require different strategies of defense. Because LBJ wasn't willing to "go all the way", the US lost tens of thousands of military personnel over a "holding action". Basically the first Forever War.

Not to be outdone, Bush the Lesser and the Republicans upped the ante by just attacking Iraq and getting the US into another Forever War.

Afghanistan was more in the traditional sense even though it was allowed to go on too long because of Bush and Iraq.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

I fiind it hard to believe people still talk about dodging the draft during Vietnam , especially Vietnam a useless unjust war where we were the bad guys.
I just watched a documentary on Muhammad Ali and he’s practically a saint for his stand.

All draft-dodgers are not created equal. Some went to jail for their stance. The cowards ran or lied. Clinton lied. Limbaugh lied. Bush lied. Trump lied.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

and to county leadership controlled by the demmycrat party.....

Why do you want to restrict it to only looking at Democrat counties?

 

[Stringfellow Hawk]

No, but thanks for proving my point. Hopefully you'll be on the front lines the next time Trump orders an attack on America. The very front.

that's what I thought, you never back up what you post

 

[Moosakofsky]

All draft-dodgers are not created equal. Some went to jail for their stance. The cowards ran or lied. Clinton lied. Limbaugh lied. Bush lied. Trump lied.

I probably woulda joined the Air Force, Coast Guard or Navy or gone into the Peace Corps or thought about running to Canada. Definitely woulda got the college deferment, then on to professional school.
Hard to say. I wasn't old enough. Bush joined the Air National Guard, didn't he?

 

[Dutch Uncle]

I think it’s cultural, but also poverty, bad food is cheaper.

That's very true, and the cause of most of it.

There's a vicious cycle when, in America, seems to being reinforced more than it is broken as more Americans move into the lower economic class as the rich get richer.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...-ground-financially-to-upper-income-families/
About half (52%) of American adults lived in middle-class households in 2016. This is virtually unchanged from the 51% who were middle class in 2011. But while the size of the nation’s middle class remained relatively stable, financial gains for middle-income Americans during this period were modest compared with those of higher-income households, causing the income disparity between the groups to grow.

 

[MAGA MAN]

US Army should just stop wasting their time recruiting in the South.

They are just to fat to fight and defend the nation

You're racist then. We have more blacks, and they tend to be the fattest. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html#nonhispanic-black-adults

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

There's a vicious cycle when, in America, seems to being reinforced more than it is broken as more Americans move into the lower economic class as the rich get richer.

Add to that families where both parents work often don't have time nor energy to fix balanced meals so they tend to grab fast food or stuff that can be quickly microwaved but is full of fat, carbs, and sodium. Even middle class families can have issues making time for health meals eaten together.

 

[Moosakofsky]

Add to that families where both parents work often don't have time nor energy to fix balanced meals so they tend to grab fast food or stuff that can be quickly microwaved but is full of fat, carbs, and sodium. Even middle class families can have issues making time for health meals eaten together.

Fresh fruit and salads are just as easy if not easier (and cheaper). Canned tuna or salmon on mult-grain bread is quick and easy. There's tons of other examples.
"Bad habits are easy to acquire but hard to live with. Good habits are difficult to acquire yet easy to live with."
You're making excuses.

 

[Truth Detector]

This Is America’s Most Obese County (msn.com)

No surprises here.

Dumb little Nazi mocking fat people now. Ironic in that I am betting you're a fat little asshole too!