Well first I didn't read all 15 pages of this thread and so I'm sure I am out of step with the discussion from the last few pages which seems to be about the scene on the gulf coast.

But if you want a different point of view about this board here it is.

Now I pretty much stay in the politics section because I live in Nashville, Tn and don't really care about who is playing Thunder's Tavern this weekend.

In the politics section I've noticed a change over the last year or so.

Used to I could start a thread on for example Bill Clinton and would pretty much immediately be greeted by flamethrowers calling me everything from a racist, nazi etc. Used to I felt as a conservative that I was a SMALL MINORITY on this board.

Now, I start that same thread and am greeted by the sounds of crickets. The liberals have disappeared or don't want to debate.

So when someone DOES actually take the time to answer, for the most part, they actually THINK THROUGH their answer and don't resort to flame-throwing.

But often times no one answers....

So in the last year or so the debate has gotten far more civil (a good thing) but it has also just gotten FAR LESS (a bad thing for a board).

As far as the scene on the coast. I lived there for damn near twenty years. When I moved I was AMAZED at how many JOBS there are up here. In a small town of roughly 15,000 (Springfield) we have more manufacturing than the WHOLE MS GULF COAST COMBINED!!! Down there the jobs section of the want ads in the Newspaper took about three or four pages. Up here there are 5 to 6 pages of the want ads dedicated to manufacturing jobs ALONE.

So one problem the coast has is a lack of good jobs. Also, and I mean no offense, but damn everytime I visit and drive down those broken down streets and see the continual annual repair of Hwy 90 on the beach etc I think to myself, "god I am glad I don't live there anymore." I still have relatives and friends and like to visit but I really do ask myself, "why would anybody live here?"

Plus after Katrina a lot of your people have moved away not to return.

I don't know what you can do about it but there's my two cents worth.