Living in Nebraska is such an adventure.

[boxster]

As many of you likely know, NE is quite absurdly conservative. Bush beat Gore in Nebraska in 2000 63%/33%, so for us Democrats, election day often feels more like a protest vote than anything.

And, many people outside of Nebraska think that football is the only activity performed in the state. While that is not completely accurate, football certainly does permeate society here. Basically, you either love the Huskers or you don't. It's the Nebraska equivalent of "with us or against us". }( I'm a fan, but it's actually pretty difficult not to be after a decade and a half of living here.

My view of my fellow Nebraskans, however, is famously poor. It's difficult to understand the rationale of people who still wholeheartedly support Bush and the war in Iraq(even now) and who appear to know as much about politics as my three-year old nephew. Actually, that would be unfair to my nephew, as he's already brighter than many of the people I have worked with. I have a tendency to dismissively chalk up the average Nebraskan's very conservative view on politics and blind faith in Bush to ignorance and/or stupidity.

Anyway, long introduction aside, here's the reason for my post.

One of our local TV station's web sites has decided to once again confirm my belief that the Nebraska chandelier houses some pretty dim bulbs. http://www.theomahachannel.com/sports/2612504/detail.html

GAME NOTES: Seeking their first win over Nebraska since 1968, the upstart Kansas Jayhawks play host to the 19th-ranked Cornhuskers on Saturday afternoon. The Huskers have dominated the all-time series with KU, winning 85 of the 79 previous meetings, including each of the last 34 encounters.

Apparently, some of NU's beatings of KU were so bad, they counted them twice.

This comment has been on the site for several days now. It's even been moved from the front page to the sports section fully intact.

You would think that someone would point it out. I, however, am not that someone. I think it's hysterical and refuse to bring it to anyone's attention.

I just thought I'd share. You probably won't think it's as funny as I do, but then again, you probably don't live here. :P

[david_vincent]

1. I heard that at the Univ. of Nebraska

they actually close the library on game days, so no one can do any of that trivial studying when they should be at the game rooting on the Huskers. Is that really true?

[boxster]

5. This fall, the bookstore (no joke) was giving out free beer coupons

to encourage students to buy their books at the bookstore instead of online or elsewhere.

They had to stop after the public got a little testy.

Not sure about the library, but it wouldn't surprise me. Lincoln is pretty crazy on game days.

[toddzilla]

2. no, it's funny as hell

sounds like a yogi berra thing..

[Swede]

3. Well I guess the N on the Huskers helmet really

does stand for knowledge.

[marigold20]

8. Wow, I haven't heard the N is for knowledge joke in years! Cool.

..

[MuseRider]

4. HEY!

You can't do that to our Jayhawks! It is about as bad here in some places. Howdy neighbor. We dems are out there, just not as many of us as we wish. Have things not changed at all there? I see some change here, slow but steady.

[boxster]

6. Howdy!

It's funny - I grew up in South Dakota, which I thought was very conservative at the time. Then, I moved to Minnesota, then to Nebraska.

NE makes SD look liberal! Every county in NE went to Bush in 2000. It really doesn't seem to have changed much politically in the 15 years I've been here, though some Dems are getting a little more vocal publicly. We live in Omaha, which is a little more liberal (relatively speaking) than most of the state.

Of course, our Democratic Senator, Ben Nelson, gets a lot of (deserved, in my opinion) flak for voting for several of Bush's pet projects. I think Senator Hagel, an (R) who is pretty conservative, has probably been a bigger critic of Bush recently than Nelson has.

I always joked that I'm a California guy who just hasn't lived there yet. I've been trying to get out of here for most of that 15 years, but family resists. One of these days....

[acmavm]

12. Well hon, I know just exactly what you mean. And here's a bit of advice

from someone who's spent most of their life here. Run! As fast as you can! Shake the cow shit from your feet and run. Liberals are few and far between here. I understand they may soon be listed on Nebraska's Endangered Species list.

[boxster]

13. I've been trying. Believe me.

I grew up in South Dakota and spent most of my adolescence planning my future on one coast or the other. I was offered a full-ride scholarship to a college in Florida. I ultimately turned it down and decided to stay close to home for college because of the person who is now my wife. I love her to death, but if I had it to do over again and knew the alternative meant living in NE for 15 years, I would have gone!

Since graduation from college, I've been trying to move us to California or somewhere else much warmer than NE in wintertime, but have thus far been confronted by an immovable object - my aforementioned wife, who is deathly afraid of change, even though she dislikes Nebraska about as much as I do. What I intended to be a two or three-year stint in Nebraska has become 15 years and counting.

We're only in our 30's, but it gets harder and harder to make life-altering decisions like this the older we get, so it's probably getting close to "now or never" time. If I'm still here in 3-5 years, I'll probably never get out!

Oh, well. It's not all bad. Real estate is still pretty cheap here!

[david_vincent]

7. Hey MR, have you ever read

Cows are Freaky When They Look at You: An Oral History of the Kaw Valley Hemp Pickers, by David Ohle?
It's a waycool collection of remembered anecdotes from and about the handful of freaks and heads in Lawrence in the 60s. It captivated me and I'm not even from Kansas. Highly recommended!

[rasputin1952]

9. I'm up here in the Northeastern part of NE...

and the Huskers are demi-gods up here, as they are throughout the state.

I always keep up on the scores, but rarely watch the games. I keep up, so I can say, "yeah, great game", or some such trivial gratuity for the inevitable run of Husker insanity. I had to laugh last year when they were so bad they were pushed into the cellar though.

Nebraskans are indeed enthralled with conservatism, but every time I ask them why, I get a really dumb look, and you can see the wheels turning. I think no one ever asked them WHY they are Republicans. Once they think about, they get a little nervous.

BTW, my total for registration changes is: 9 to Ind, 1 to Dem., that's 10 votes lost for the bushista's.

:kick:

[boxster]

11. "a really dumb look" - I've seen that look!

Too funny - I know exactly what you're talking about. I ask people to name issues that are important to them. These issues are invariably issues where they would be much better off voting Democratic. I explain that to them and provide examples, then ask them why they vote Rep.

That's when I get the look! Then, they get defensive.

The thing I've never understood is why so many family farmers in ND, SD, NE, KS, etc., are Republicans. Farm subsidies are just about the most anti-Republican of concepts, yet every farmer I knew growing up was picking up their subsidy check with one hand and voting Republican with the other, all the while demanding that the government stay out of their lives (?).

Re: registration changes - sounds good! A couple of the counties just outside of Sioux City were the closest thing we had in 2000 to Democratic-leaning.

[rasputin1952]

14. i.e.: Farm Subsidies, LOL...

I was in a small town near here doing a job, and in the cafe were the usual farmers discussing the latest in baler development, and the finer art of the application anhydrous ammonia. The discussion of the day was, "welfare queens". While sipping my coffee, I listened to the usual RW banter of those that "suck at the public teat" and use all of their energy procreating. I then risked certain death; I asked them a question!

Since I was the interloper in their conversation, I was reserved but firm. My question was simple: "What is the difference between a farmer being paid, say $100,000, for letting fields go fallow, and the individual with 3 kids getting $310 a month to try to keep those kids sheltered"? If looks could harm, I would have burst into flames on the spot.I remained calm through all of the excuses for accepting gov't money for farmers to survive, and was actually threatened witha n 'ass-whoopin'". Since none of them could, "whoop" may ass without serious repercussions from their circulatory systems, I felt no great urge to back down.

Bottom line, regardless of who accepts gov't funds, they are the ones that are at the trough. Besides, Farm Subsidies are a Dem idea, and neither good nor bad. They vote GOP because their fathers and mothers voted GOP, and so on up the generations; no other reason.

These are basically fine, down to earth people. I have nothing but great respect for those that work the land, their hours are tough, and the work is murderous. Many of those still activly farming are in their 80's, no easy feat, to be sure. Far to many though, get their information from RW radio in the fields, and they do not srutinize what they hear, they just accept it.

I try to plant little seeds of insight, as they grow, they gnaw away at old ideas. It is along process, but well worth the effort.

:kick:

[WoodrowFan]

15. Blazing Saddles Quote

sorry, can't resist...

Jim: You've gotta remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the New West. You know ... morons.


http://www.ladyofthecake.com/mel/saddles/sounds/morons.wav

[rasputin1952]

17. LOL...great line froma great movie!...

n/t

[boxster]

18. Yes, that pretty much sums it up.

My mom, a history teacher, was actually chastised by the school board of a small school in South Dakota because she had the NERVE to compare farm subsidies to other government programs like welfare, medicare, etc.

I think there are other reasons they voted Republican - gun rights, for one, especially in the Midwest. It's just funny that farmers would seem like the perfect candidates to vote Dem, yet the majority of them don't.

[populistmom]

10. I lived my first 15 years in Omaha

While I miss it sometimes, I'm glad now I don't live there because as out of place I feel in New England at times, Nebraska was even worse.

[Zero Gravitas]

16. well it is KU

so the stat is probably accurate. (much like the Chargers loosing in their bye week).

[Character Assassin]

19. You need to get Josh Rouse's "Dressed Up Like Nebraska"

If you don't already.

[Snow]

20. I left 18 months ago, no regrets, agree completely, and yet, and yet...

a few years ago the city of Omaha came within a few hundred votes of electing a liberal black woman as mayor. What the hell was with that? And the current mayor is nowhere near the neanderthal that "Helicopter Hal" Daub was.

But overall, you guys are right. I have a racially mixed family, and it was at times very unpleasant for us because of that, politics aside. Nebraskans are friendly folks, warm and all that, blablabla, as long as you look like them - ie, white.

And for you football fans, something else to ponder - on UN home football game Saturdays, Memorial Stadium becomes the third largest city in the state.