So explain East Oakland or East LA, or Alabama, Appalachia, almost any reservation or religious compound.
Plenty of strife in capitalist society.

Put N Carolina under total international embargo for 50 years and tell me it’s all about communism. I would bet everything I own that Cuba, for all it’s faults, would stand head and shoulders above your state given the same economy destroying embargo.

OMG...I was SOOOO hoping you would make that argument.
The 'blanket' minimum wage is the minimum we have decided that those living in the cheapest places to live should be paid. I agree, it should be based on cost of living...but the $15 an hour standard is what we've said should be the minimum in back woods Appalachia, and in larger cities it should be well over $20. Reduce the pay at the top to a reasonably high level and that won't cost most businesses another penny.

OK, bay area....you said ""those who choose to live there need to consider their income" ....ignoring the majority of people who are 'stuck' there without sufficient income; those who've lost financial stability, or those born there to poor parents who have never made any choice, and usually their parents who no longer have a choice to make at this point. They simply can't afford to move. The same goes for most low income people anywhere, they don't "choose" to live there, they don't have the luxury of a 'choice'. ...or are you lobbying for free moving and relocation services for the poor?

10 years ago, $15 an hour was not a living wage in many places, the bay area for one. I left there 20 years ago, and $15 an hour was pretty hard to live on as a single man sharing an apartment THEN, I can't imagine how it is now, especially for those with children.

No, you didn't say ONLY kids living at home have minimum wage jobs, but you did mention them as if they are a large percentage of minimum wage workers, and the group we should focus on, and implied that wages should be determined (at least in part) by THEIR needs. They are in fact the smallest group of minimum wage workers, and even they need more money to eventually move out.

Really? " those unwilling to put in the effort and gain the skill required to actually do a decent service to society." If you really believe a large percentage of people working for minimum wage are "unwilling to put in effort" to better themselves, I just don't know what to say. That's completely batshit insane, they work insanely hard for little compensation, with little respite, and absolutely no respect. Most are putting out more than a reasonable maximum effort just to go deeper into debt constantly, there is no amount of effort that makes more time to make more money to pay for training, or an amount of effort that makes tuition free. Also, who do you think will take over for them if they all put in the effort and gain the skill required to actually do a decent service to society"...(whatever the hell that insulting statement is supposed to mean besides implying they aren't decent or serving society today...by choice)?
What are you talking about "Complacency shouldn't be allowed to make life more difficult for all of us"? WHAT?!? OK, yes, so stop being so complacent about the horrendous way we treat those at the bottom of the financial system because that makes life more difficult for all of us by forcing those with 'more' (but not enough 'more' to avoid taxes) to pay higher taxes for welfare, prisons, policing, housing, etc....by making the nation more crime ridden because it's the only way to make a living for so many...by overtaxing our medical system because so many can't afford to be preemptive with their health and only accept medical help when it's at emergency stage...etc.

If the funds to raise the lowest wages don't come from the extravagant pay that goes to the top and are instead being transferred directly to consumers, yes, it's a vicious cycle. That's why you have to ALSO lower top compensation by law, like maybe tie it to the lowest paid worker in the company. That would stop inflation from being a feedback loop with wages.

Bob,

You and I agree on very little, but I think we stand united on this one: when are those motherfucking crackers in Appalachia gonna get their shit together, get off the meth, and make something out of themselves? Damn, it felt good to say that!

Appalachia's Got Talent!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'cinema, film, iris dement, appalachian, mountain music, folk, traditional' to 'Songcatcher, Iris Dement, Pretty Saro, Appalachia, mountain music, folk, traditional' - edited by jonny

You are very welcome, an excellent sift!

In reply to this comment by jonny:
Thanks! Even as popular as TED talks are here, I never expected that would sift.

In reply to this comment by AdrianBlack:
*promote

Bernal's a great part of town -- Cortland's like its own little enclave in the City.

In reply to this comment by shagen454:
Well, until I moved to what I call the only slice of "Appalachia" on Bernal Heights.

Haha, that sounds like me in high school. I was sort of friends with the straight-edge kids who were on the football & lacrosse team (ie fucking jocks). Friends with the cheesy fatwreck punk kids with their intolerable immaturities. Friends with the lo-fi art rock kids, the diy hardcore kids, the loner "abstract artists", the rich brats & golfing kids, the video game geeks, the film nerds and their Videodrome & Holy Mountain... but more importantly I stuck to myself and ended up with a bunch of beautiful weirdo loner babes.

Ironically, for Lev and I since we live in SF we may be loners but it is goddamned impossible to be alone here. Even loners make friends here because everyone in this town is pretty damn weird. The whole loner thing just doesn't work as an adult - but when your a kid it works charms if you're actually into interesting things that no one knows about. If you can't make friends - you're not really alone but it would be pretty damn emotionally isolating - since there are only people & buildings. It was difficult to get used to at first and well - I don't really remember what happened because I spent the next 8 years drinking my way to sociability. Well, until I moved to what I call the only slice of "Appalachia" on Bernal Heights.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'banjo, guitar, appalachia, bubba, culture, folk, dance, duel, duelling banjos' to 'banjo, guitar, appalachia, bubba, culture, folk, duel, duelling banjos, deliverance' - edited by rasch187

I try to avoid pimping my own vids, but I know you will like this:
http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Stories-and-Songs-of-Appalachia

books is the devil's work. that's why God made books on tape.

>> ^rottenseed:
oops what? that was an accurate statement. Nobody moves to the Appalachia without some missing teeth and a hatred for bathing and reading.

oops what? that was an accurate statement. Nobody moves to the Appalachia without some missing teeth and a hatred for bathing and reading.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'banjo, guitar, appalachia' to 'banjo, guitar, appalachia, bubba, culture, folk, dance, duel, duelling banjos' - edited by Krupo

I'm a little worried about how much his race will be a factor in the general election too, but the primaries showed it to not be a detriment anywhere except Appalachia, and in the deep south.

There's been some speculation though that in Mississippi, if he holds 90% of the African American vote, and the turnout for African Americans goes up from 32% to 40%, all he needs is about 25% of the white vote to win the state.

There are calculations like that going on all across the map.

I still think he's in trouble if he loses Ohio or Pennsylvania. He's already polling slightly ahead in PA, and I'm pretty confident Ohio will go Democratic this year. In 2006 Ohio overwhelmingly voted out incumbent Republicans in favor of Democrats, and the general trend has continued left since then.

Now that Obama's got the nomination locked up, and Hillary telling her supporters to rally behind him, we'll be able to get accurate polling data for Obama/McCain match ups (that don't include 50% of the Hillary supporters saying they'll vote McCain).

I think he's gonna be in good shape already, and he's got 5 months of campaigning to make it better.

thanks Bfresh.. i'm in Lexington myself, and i'm getting quite fed up with all of this stereotyping since the primaries moved this way. it's good to know that other people are as irritated with it as well, and this is just another case of the louder minority of the population getting the airtime. if people thought about the US as a whole the same way they think of Appalachia, the US would be nothing but Hummer-Driving, FOX watching, Pat Robertson and Fred Phelps-following, warmongering fatties...but then again, maybe we are.

[edit] what i mean to say is this: you all had better not be surprised if us Kentuckians are more sensitive to this kind of hilbilly fingerpointing than usual. it's been far worse than usual because of the primaries, and we might just start lashing out.