Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I was out in Western NY. Horse and buggies, trees, farms, vineyards, lakes, shotguns in the back of pick-ups... if there is anything I miss, that would be it.

Otherwise that state is so F'd up... High Taxes, high energy costs, jobs are going away, income stagnating... Downstate (NYC) sucks all the revenue from upstate. In terms of voting, other than downstate and Syracuse and Buffalo, most other counties go conservative in elections. Think Blue state/ Red State type of map!

Yep, trying to find a good pizza here in Norfolk is a real b!tch. Can't say I have found good Italian food yet either. Good Greek at Orapax by the water. I am craving some Jewish Potato knishes and Cheese blintzes, but cannot find it out here yet.

Pumbaa wrote:I was out in Western NY. Horse and buggies, trees, farms, vineyards, lakes, shotguns in the back of pick-ups... if there is anything I miss, that would be it.

I went to college in Utica...looked it was bombed 40 years ago and never repaired. I remember seeing Confederate flags (more than I see here) in the sticks. The overall area of the place was dismal and decayed. I guess when the canals died the towns died too?

Winter was harsh and meth was a real problem(first time I heard of it back in 2003), I wasn't sorry to leave.

Otherwise that state is so F'd up... High Taxes, high energy costs, jobs are going away, income stagnating... Downstate (NYC) sucks all the revenue from upstate. In terms of voting, other than downstate and Syracuse and Buffalo, most other counties go conservative in elections. Think Blue state/ Red State type of map!

Yeah, it sucks. I loathed working in Manhattan, especially the subway, it smelled like piss and homeless. Funny you mention income stagnation, idiots think they make more but they actually dont, the average income of where I'm from and where I live now i sonly slightly higher in NY, yet the cost of living is over twice as high.

Yep, trying to find a good pizza here in Norfolk is a real b!tch. Can't say I have found good Italian food yet either. Good Greek at Orapax by the water. I am craving some Jewish Potato knishes and Cheese blintzes, but cannot find it out here yet.

Roanoke has a good bagel place (was amazed they have lox), but New York pizza in Vinton is the only decent pizza here. We usually make our own.

Don't remind me of bombed out. Before I left NY, I lived the last 3 years in Endicott home of Endicott Johnson shoes (which died in the 80's) and IBM (moved in the 90's). Talk about the rust belt and looking like a war zone of empty building shells! sad, sad, sad!

But I thought this was funny, and I bet could be adapted to VA!

Having been in rural Western New York for over 25 years, I had to send this on. Yes, there is a huge state beyond New York City and it is called western New York.

It has some beautiful large cities and is also full of MANY,MANY small towns and abundant farm land which we call Rural New York.

Here is someone's take on "Rural Western New York" and it's quite accurate.

THE RULES OF RURAL NEW YORK ARE AS FOLLOWS: Listen up City Slickers!

1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap around straight... your head isn't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road' No matter how slow you
drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
I drive a pickup truck because I want to.

4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny
to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it?
I-90 and I-81 go west and south... use em.

5. So you have a $60,000 car... we're impressed. We have $250,000 combines
to harvest corn and soybeans that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. So every person in rural New York waves. It's called being
friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and 3 does are coming
in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up
to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah, we eat meat, taters and gravy, beans and biscuits, and homemade pie.
You really want sushi and caviar? It's available down at Jim's bait shop.

9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a
religious holiday held the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak or chicken.
Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables,
and breads. We use three spices... salt, pepper, and ketchup. Oh,
yeah... We don't care what you folks in Chicago call that stuff you
eat... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!

13. You bring 'coke' into my house... it better be brown, wet and served over ice.

14. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to
shoot, drive a truck, and have long blonde hair.

15. The Syracuse Orangemen and high school football are as important
here as the Giants and the Jets and more fun to watch.

16. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards... it spooks the fish.

17. Colleges? We have them all over. We have Cornell University, Ithaca
College, Syracuse U., Canisius College, Colgate, the SUNY system, Community Colleges,
and Voc-techs. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and
Country, and they still wave to every-body when they come home for the holidays.

18. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music
anyway. We don't want to hear it any more than we want to see your boxers.
(Refer back to #1.)

19. Four inches of snow isn't a bliz-zard...it's a flurry. Drive in
it like you got some sense, and DON'T take all our bread, milk, and
eggs off the grocery shelves. This ain't Alaska! Worst case... you
may have to live a whole day without croissants. Anyway... the
pickups with snowplows will have you out the next day.

20. If you've never been here, come visit our friendly folks and enjoy our
spectacular scenery... lakes, farmland, great fishing and hunting, wineries,
museums, lots of history. Take a boat ride on the Erie Canal. Check out
Niagara Falls, and the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains.

21. By the way, if you want to talk to God in New York... it's a local call.

Pumbaa wrote:I was out in Western NY. Horse and buggies, trees, farms, vineyards, lakes, shotguns in the back of pick-ups... if there is anything I miss, that would be it.

Otherwise that state is so F'd up... High Taxes, high energy costs, jobs are going away, income stagnating... Downstate (NYC) sucks all the revenue from upstate. In terms of voting, other than downstate and Syracuse and Buffalo, most other counties go conservative in elections. Think Blue state/ Red State type of map!

Yep, trying to find a good pizza here in Norfolk is a real b!tch. Can't say I have found good Italian food yet either. Good Greek at Orapax by the water. I am craving some Jewish Potato knishes and Cheese blintzes, but cannot find it out here yet.

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An interesting post, but I'm uncertain about your Western New York State designation. Geographically the 3 most Western Congressional Districts are NY26, 27 and 28. Democrats represent all 3 districts. If we say anything West of Utica is Western New York, there are 7 Congressional Districts. 4 are represented by Democrats and 3 by Republicans. The latest Democratic pickup was NY-26, which had never gone Democratic. Apparently even conservatives didn't like the end Medicare and Medicaid stance of the Republican Party. It seems if you had your druthers, you would Gerrymander the state map to group majority conservative counties together. That may well decrease Republican Congressional Districts.

Your revenue distribution is actually backwards. NYC alone has approx 40% of the population of the entire state. Since income is higher downstate, they contribute more taxes and receive less back. The downstate/upstate deficit for NYC runs in the billions. The problem is even greater considering that NYC supports the greater Metro Area that has approx 18 million people.

Actually we Virginians should appreciate New York State since a part of their Federal taxes go to support us. New York pays more in Federal taxes than they get back in Federal dollars; whereas, in VA we pay less in Federal Taxes than we get back. Instead of complaining about New York, the next time we meet a New Yorker we ought to give a silent thank you to them and the other states that pay more Federal taxes than come back to their state. We wouldn't want them to realize their getting screwed would we?

Then again deficit reduction will automatically have a greater effect on VA than it will on NY. MMmmmm maybe we ought to be careful what we ask. As I remember it, the last time our governor slammed federal government spending, he sure as hell didn't like the result.

Gat6

wylde007 wrote:The deal with Alaska is there is so much wilderness that if you go far enough away, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

If you can survive, that is.

(OK, so that's my personal take...)

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Maybe it has something to do with AK being the ultimate welfare state, literally a ward of the Federal government. That and the fact that it's also the extortion state since oil companies wind up paying the state twice for drilling and extracting oil.
Gat6

CCFan wrote:

gatlingun6 wrote: Actually no, my original question was WHO funds this organization not WHAT funds the organization. So the question remains unanswered. You see I could do research to show that a pig is a prince based on what I select to include, and how I weight each part of the study.
Gat6

And I could do research on people who can't do research and conclude they must be liberals. Your point? You and I aren't "Peer reviewed", the organization cannot do hired research (which you are implying that this study is) and I could prove that Mother Theresa was the largest donor to the recipient of this research and you wouldn't be happy if God Himself spoke through a burning bush to you verifying Mother Theresa did in fact fund them...

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I have no idea what points you're trying to make from one question, that's very valid for any study. For example, studies about the health consequences of cigarettes funded by cigarette manufacturers told us for years that they were not a health hazard. Now we know they lied, and knew they were lying. Before I read the study I checked two things, as I do with any study, what's the methodology, and who funded it, or who funds the organization that did the study.

You seem to be assuming a lot of somethings from my question. Yep VA is in the top 10 by their definition and their methodology. Want to know how we could move higher? Here a few things we could do: decriminalize possession and use of marihuana, legalize prostitution, decriminalize gambling, eliminate local environmental regulations, drop the licensing requirements for any professional occupation, eliminate speed limits, etc. These are just a few things that could bring more freedom.

Btw, the organization got exactly what they paid for.

Gat6

gatlingun6 wrote:

CCFan wrote:

gatlingun6 wrote: Actually no, my original question was WHO funds this organization not WHAT funds the organization. So the question remains unanswered. You see I could do research to show that a pig is a prince based on what I select to include, and how I weight each part of the study.
Gat6

And I could do research on people who can't do research and conclude they must be liberals. Your point? You and I aren't "Peer reviewed", the organization cannot do hired research (which you are implying that this study is) and I could prove that Mother Theresa was the largest donor to the recipient of this research and you wouldn't be happy if God Himself spoke through a burning bush to you verifying Mother Theresa did in fact fund them...

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I have no idea what points you're trying to make from one question, that's very valid for any study. For example, studies about the health consequences of cigarettes funded by cigarette manufacturers told us for years that they were not a health hazard. Now we know they lied, and knew they were lying. Before I read the study I checked two things, as I do with any study, what's the methodology, and who funded it, or who funds the organization that did the study.

You seem to be assuming a lot of somethings from my question. Yep VA is in the top 10 by their definition and their methodology. Want to know how we could move higher? Here a few things we could do: decriminalize possession and use of marihuana, legalize prostitution, decriminalize gambling, eliminate local environmental regulations, drop the licensing requirements for any professional occupation, eliminate speed limits, etc. These are just a few things that could bring more freedom.

Btw, the organization got exactly what they paid for.

Gat6

Okay, lets try this again, since you've been so vague I could use your argument as camp toilet paper... it's that thin...

Which organization got exactly what they paid for? Please quote your source of which organization paid what you claim they received, and please also provide evidence that the person who undertook the study was influenced to take on this particular study (since, from what I read, the researchers pick their own research topics...) Otherwise, your entire argument is bunk.

I'm not interested in legalizing marijuana, prostitution, and gambling - if those things were cause for concern from my perspective, I'd join the government - they're obviously high, they're constantly screwing me, and their gambling with my money anyways...