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So, poor people are homophobic, and too stupid to murder their own babies when its for their own good. Congratulations! That is the most retarded and ignorant statement I've read on /. today!

Lets compare Missouri to neighboring Blue State Illinois. MO's unemployment rate: 5.6%, just above the national average. Il: 5.8%. Mean average anual salary in Missouri is $34,130. Il: $38,360. You might think that $4,230 means something until you factor in the cost of living, which is 93.6% for MO compared to 112% for Il. That means it's 18.4% cheaper to live in Missouri than in next-door Illinois - a blue State. While we're on the subject, health costs are lower in Mo compared to Il (105.8, 112.3, 100 = baseline).

Seems to me that Illinois is a poorer state. And they voted for Kerry.

As to this notion that welfare helps poor people, go into any southern urban area and speak to families that are trying to get ahead on public assistance. Welfare laws are structured in a way that keeps the poor down. Want to own property? You won't get welfare in 44 out of 50 states. Trying to get an education? Most welfare programs won't pay for anything more than vocational training, so you can get a nice manufacturing job that pays a 'living wage'. Got children? WIC will pay for food, but it won't pay for diapers, day care, or baby clothes. So you'll have ignorant fat naked babies. Oh, I forgot. You were supposed to abort them.

Seriously. Get a clue. Don't spout such ignorant sweeping generalizations as this.

Sources: Sperling, US Government Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Some lists:
stress, dating, crime.

Some lists:
stress, dating, crime.

Some lists:
stress, dating, crime.

C'mon, man! South Florida has NO JOB market for IT! They could offer $20,000/year, and I bet one of the 10,000 former Motorola guys would jump at the chance to stop waiting tables and use their skills. Not to mention the IT house cleaning that went on in nearby Tampa/St. Pete. Anyway, I don't think Largo is a competetive market on par with the National mean by Comparison.

A tool for finding the best place to live is online at BestPlaces.Net.

There are two versions of the tool: short (15 categories) and long (40 categories).

The tool has you rate different attributes in terms of "importance to you" and then provides a ranked list of places to live that meet your preferences.

St. Louis may not have the $1 million median home prices of the Bay Area, but when it comes to education it is on par with Palo Alto and considerably better than most of the other communities on the Peninsula. And Creve Coeur is hardly a special case, as other suburbs like Clayton and University City also compare well to the richer but not smarter mini-cities of the Bay.

Despite its muggy summer weather I hope to someday move back to the St. Louis, and when I go I know I will not be leaving behind civilization, but only San Francisco's cultural mediocrity and empty poses of sophistication.