Apparently, on Prairie Home Companion, the host said something to the effect of: People from states that have no business being states — states like Kansas, Colorado, …, Montana — are everything that’s wrong with this country.
This, naturally, caught my interest. I tried to chase down what exactly was said because it fits in with some things I have been talking about here. I couldn’t find it, but by putting that quote into Google minus the listing of the states, brought up Burt’s Real State post on the first page.
Anyhow, I can’t verify the quote. It was mentioned on Facebook by a friend who heard it first-hand and said that the guy actually went on and on about it. Any further information on this would be appreciated.
I’m confused. Garrison Keillor, who’s from Minnesota, said that?
I was confused about that and I was confused about the inclusion of Colorado in the list. I wondering if maybe there was a guest-host? Or if Minnesota gets a pass because it’s blue.
The frustration of the host was apparently related to the gun issue. (Which again, didn’t Colorado just pass a sweeping gun bill?)
Which again, didn’t Colorado just pass a sweeping gun bill?
For some value of “sweeping”. Universal background checks and a 15-round limit on newly-sold ammunition magazines (larger magazines that people already own are not affected). The law that blocks the state, counties, or cities from creating an actual gun registry stays on the books. Reporting of concealed-carry permits to the state remains at the option of the individual sheriffs. Of recent interest, a small majority of the county sheriffs are planning a lawsuit to attempt to overturn those laws. The state-wide County Sheriffs Association declined to join that effort. And the Association of Police Chiefs supported passage of the bills. The division is mostly between urban and rural areas — a split that is becoming more and more common.
Sometime during the last ten years, Colorado seems to have reached a tipping point. In 2010, with a strong national trend favoring the Republicans in state legislatures, the Republicans here managed to gain a one-seat majority in the state House (a less-than-200 vote swing in one district would have preserved the Democrats’ majority) but the Democrats retained the Senate. And the Republicans lost the House in 2012, largely (IMO) because of the procedural shenanigans that the Republican House leadership played in keeping a same-sex civil union bill that had the votes to pass from reaching the floor during the 2012 legislative session. The Colorado Republicans seem to be badly misreading the suburban voters overall.
It will be interesting to see if the Republicans can hold onto Colorado Springs for another ten years. The “always lower taxes” is starting to bite on services: brown parks, lots of street lights turned off, reduced availability of police.
By “overturn those laws”, I meant that they are attempting to overturn the new laws, not the previously-existing ones.
I should add that the person who reported this is not an outrage-of-the-week sort, and lives in Connecticut, but is conservative.
It was in the News from Lake Wobegon — he starts on a bit of a rant around the 90-minute mark and the specific bit about the states that shouldn’t be states is at 92:35 or so. Technically the rant is what a character in the story is hearing from others, but the mask is very thin.
But I don’t have anything against those States!
…Except Kansas. I mean, WTF? If it merged with Nebraska would anyone even notice?
(I kid because I care.)
If it merged with Nebraska would anyone even notice?
College football fans in both states.
“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Nebrakan, I mean Kansaska, I mean whatever the fuck it’s called we’re not there.”
When I saw the movie Twister, I got pretty disgusted when I realized the last part of the movie was filmed in Iowa rather than in Oklahoma, where the movie was set. While the first part of the movie looked like central or western Oklahoma (flatter, drier, wheat fields), the setting of the doomed house in the finale was clearly in corn country (black dirt, more verdant) with rolling terrain. Having lived in both places, they look very different to me.
I was ranting to my partner about it and stopped when I saw the look on his face. “No one else will recognize this as a problem, much less care about it, right?” I asked. He didn’t need to answer.
It is a little frustrating to live in places that so many of my own countrymen know almost nothing about. I don’t mean politically or socially, but geographically.
But I laugh at it too.
That happens to everybody. The college in The Graduate was supposed to be UC Berkeley, but parts of it were filmed at USC. Which is a complete outrage, like setting a film in Paris and shooting it in Berlin.
Don’t get me started on California.
Outlaw Blues was largely shot in Austin, Texas while I was in graduate school there. In one of the fight sequences, a character is punched inside the front door of well-known Bar A (whose real name totally escapes me), but the cut to where he flies out the door is shot from the parking lot of well-known Bar B, on the other side of the city. As any number of people remarked at the time, “Wow, what a punch! Knocked him clear across town.”
Except for some already-existing stock footage of Paris, Casablanca was shot entirely at the Warner Bros. studio and Van Nuys Airport.
Except for some already-existing stock footage of Paris, Casablanca was shot entirely at the Warner Bros. studio and Van Nuys Airport.
Well, I’d give Casablanca a pass: It was 1942, the midst of World War II, and Morocco was under the Vichy regime.
Well, I’d give Casablanca a pass: It was 1942, the midst of World War II, and Morocco was under the Vichy regime.
Shooting on actual locations as a widespread phenomenon was a relatively late development for Hollywood. A lot of foreign locations were back lots and matte paintings. And then there’s “location” shooting where one location fills in for another — different parts of LA have filled in for a lot of cities. Interesting that Mr. Schilling mentions Berlin standing in for Paris as an outrage; the “Paris” shots for the 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days were done in Berlin. Perhaps that’s why it flopped.
Now Toronto stands in for pretty much every city.
I thought that was Vancouver.
It is a little frustrating to live in places that so many of my own countrymen know almost nothing about. I don’t mean politically or socially, but geographically.
IIRC, a very large majority of Americans live within 100 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean, or Great Lakes. During the time I worked at Bell Labs in New Jersey, it was not uncommon, when I told people that I was from Nebraska, to get a response like, “Oh, yes, out there by Ohio and Utah.” Their idea of distance, once out of the New York metro area, was pretty much all in terms of flight time: Chicago was two hours away, Denver was four, LA was six. None of the space in-between counted.
Gee, my response would be “No, it’s those Liberal Nanny Staters” that shouldn’t be Americans.