Animals

Kiss my grits

Apparently Yankee Mothers fail to teach their children manners. That's the only explanation I can come up with for the frequency with which Yankee's bash the South. Where we Southerners are indoctrinated with the "IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL" mantra by our Mothers. I suppose this is the reason you hardly ever hear Southerners talking about the North, we don't have anything nice to say (Because there are plenty of bad things to say about the North, Yankees are RUDE for one).

There are plenty of wonderful things about Mississippi and contrary to what Incertus over at Daily Kos (who isn't a Yankee, but is apparently one of those LIBERALS that think if you don't believe the same thing they do about abortion & gay rights you are socially backwards) believes Mississippi is NOT a social backwater. Here are a few facts about Mississippi.

The Blues is a music form that began in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, and is considered the only music original to the United States. The University of Mississippi Blues Archive in Oxford, contains the world's largest collection of Blues music.
The world's first round trip transoceanic flight was performed in 1928 by H. T. Merrill, from Iuka. The flight to England was made in a plane loaded with ping pong balls.
William Faulkner, one of the literary giants of the twentieth century, was born in New Albany. His accomplishments include winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award. He is considered to be the greatest writer of fiction during the first half of the 20th century. His novels include The Reivers, The Sound and The Fury, Light In August, and Absalom, Absalom. His home, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, is open to the public. At Rowan Oak, visitors may view Faulkner's room where an outline for A Fable has been scribbled on the wall by the author's own hand.
Tupelo is the birthplace of the "King of Rock and Roll," Elvis Presley. Visitors may tour the Elvis Presley Museum, chapel and the two-room house where "The King" was born.
Oxford was home to John Grisham, author of The Firm, Pelican Brief, The Chamber, The Client, A Time To Kill, The Rainmaker, the Runaway Jury... The list continues to grow. Many of his novels have been made into feature films.
The world's first human lung transplant was performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, in 1963. The world's first heart transplant was performed at the Center the following year.
Mississippi College, in Clinton, was the first co-educational college in the United States to grant a degree to a woman.
In 1982, through a Joint Resolution of the United States Congress, Jackson became the official home of the USA International Ballet Competition, which is now held every fourth year in Jackson, during the second weekend in June. This dance competition is touted as the Olympics of Dance, where competitors vie for gold, silver and bronze medals, cash awards and scholarships. Jackson is the only city in the United States to host this international event. In Europe, host cities include Moscow, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Paris, France and Varna, Bulgaria.
Greenville is the birthplace of puppetmaster Jim Henson, creator of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big Bird, Cookie Monster... the list goes on and on. In Leland, where he spent his boyhood along Deer Creek, can be found the BIRTHPLACE OF THE FROG MUSEUM, an exhibit dedicated to this unique individual who has made the world laugh and smile at the antics of his Muppets and the Sesame Street Characters.
The Dentzel Carousel, circa 1892-99, in Meridian, is one of three two-row antique stationary Dentzel menagerie carousels in existence. Original paintings of museum quality adorn the top crown and all animals are meticulously hand-carved of basswood and poplar. For twenty-five cents you can take a ride on this remarkable National Historic Landmark. ( I used to ride this carousel as a child and I have many fond memories of it).
Kosciusko is the birthplace of Oprah Winfrey, nationally syndicated talk show host and actor.
Greenville is home to Shelby Foote, novelist, historian and Pulitzer Prize winner.
Eudora Welty is a world renowned novelist, short story writer, and winner of a Pulitzer Prize as well as the American Book Award. Ms. Welty is from Jackson, where as a child, she roller skated through the marbled halls of the State Capitol Building on her way to the library. Often as not the librarian would send her back home to put on her petticoat, no doubt forgotten in her haste.
Columbus born Thomas Lanier, best known as Tennessee Williams, was a novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and four New York Drama Circle Critics Awards. He was known to spend his summers in Clarksdale, and his home, in Columbus, is now a Welcome Center and open to the public year-round.
James Dotson Byrd, of Clinton, is an inventor and polymer scientist with more than 40 technical publications to his credit. Mr. Byrd holds seven U.S. patents and developed the plastic used as a heat shield in the NASA Space Program.
Mississippi University for Women was the first state college for women in the nation. The college was established in Columbus by an act of the Mississippi Legislature on March 12, 1884.
The Federal Building in Jackson was the first federal building in the U.S. to be named for an African-American. Dr. A. H. McCoy was a prominent dentist and business leader.
Riley B. King, the blues singer and guitarist who was born in Mississippi near Itta Bena on September 16, 1925, no longer uses his real name but goes by B.B. King.
Leontyne Price, of Laurel was the first African-American to achieve international stardom in the field of opera. Ms. Price was with the New York Metropolitan Opera and gave her last performance on January 3, 1985, in the role of Aida.
The University of Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg, houses the de Grummond Exhibit, which is the World's largest collection of original manuscripts and illustrations of children's literature.
"The Mad Potter Of Biloxi," George Ohr, was a turn-of-the-century artist of abstract pottery. During his lifetime he was considered a lunatic by most residents of the Gulf Coast, but now his talent is recognized as genius by all who view his unusual designs. In reality, Ohr merely sought to bring attention to his art by pretending to be odd. Today, any one piece of his artwork can sell in auction houses for more than Ohr earned in his entire life.
Walter Anderson is another eccentric artist known worldwide for his unusual sculptures and paintings. Anderson shunned society and a conventional lifestyle to live in hermit-like seclusion, close to nature on tiny Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. After his death in 1965, hundreds of pieces of his unusual and distinctive works of art were discovered, some of which are on display at the Walter Anderson Museum located at 510 Washington Avenue in Ocean Springs.
William Grant Still, of Woodville, composed the Afro-American Symphony which was the first symphonic work by someone of his race to be performed in the U.S.
Dizzy Dean, from Bond, was a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, former pitcher for St. Louis Cardinals, and a sports television commentator. Memorabilia from the Dizzy Dean Museum was recently incorporated into the Mississippi Sports Hall Of Fame, located on Lakeland Drive in Jackson.
Mississippi's original soft drink, Barqs Root Beer, was invented in 1898 by Edward Barq, Sr. of Biloxi. The building in which this drink was made and bottled still stands and is located at 224 Keller Avenue, one block off U.S. Highway 90 in Biloxi. The secret formula is mixed by Edward "Sonny" Barq IV, the quality control specialist, and is sold to Barq's franchises in every state in the nation.
The rarest of North American cranes lives in Mississippi in the grassy savannas of Jackson County. The Mississippi Sandhill Crane stands about 44 inches tall and has an eight-foot wing-span.
In 1839, the Mississippi Legislature passed one of the first laws in the English speaking world protecting the property rights of married women.
National parks in Mississippi include: Vicksburg National Military Park; Natchez Trace Parkway; Gulf Islands National Seashore; Natchez National Historic Park; Brice's Crossroads National Battlefield Site, and the Tupelo National Battlefield.
Mississippi was the first state in the nation to have a planned system of junior colleges.

You can read more facts about Mississippi here.

Ironically the majority of Yankees that bash the South claim to be proponents of diversity and tolerance, apparently this is Liberal Yankee code for "you can bash the South, Fundamentalist Christians and homeschoolers but our pets are off limits". So the gloves are coming off and all you Yankee's & Liberals that bash the South can kiss my grits.

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