We don’t really engage the flap over the Confederate flag around here – expect to say that we think debating a piece of fabric is pretty stupid.
You might as well debate the flagpole while you’re at it.
Or the wind.
And while we can see (and respect) how people would be offended at the flying of the Rebel flag – or the celebration of Confederate Memorial Day – the fact is that the vast majority of soldiers who fought in the War Between the States did so without any interest (vested or otherwise) in the issue of slavery.
Sorry, sorry … we meant the “War of Northern Aggression.”
Now don’t get us wrong, we’re not among those kookier Southern Heritage folks who deny that slavery was the root cause of the war (it was), but we’re also not going to belittle one side’s sacrifice over the other based on the application of 21st Century standards.
All of the soldiers who died in that war – and all American conflicts – deserve to be remembered, even if the evolution of liberty has clearly demonstrated that the root cause for which the Southern side was fighting was wrong.
Which it was.
In an interesting side note, according to ESPN’s Mike & Mike it’s also “Eat Anything You Want Day” in America today.
Awesome.
And hey! Looks like some people are celebrating both …
By Brandon May 11, 2009 at 1:16 pm
War Between the States is perfectly acceptable to Southeners. It’s the title “Civil” War we have a problem with.
By Liberty For Me May 11, 2009 at 1:56 pm
The soldiers of the Confederacy were not fighting for slavery..They were fighting to protect their homes and lives.The leaders may have had bigger issues but the common man had no investment in slavery.
I think that the common man might have to take up this fight again….
The government in infringing again in an even bigger way on our freedom and lives
By fitsnews May 11, 2009 at 2:11 pm
“Liberty,”
Good points. Blacks and whites are all getting screwed by the government.
In fact, here in SC blacks are getting it the worst.
Tens of thousands of black children get shuffled through SC’s failing school system every year, for example, at a cost of thousands of dollars per child.
-FITS
By Pat Hendrix May 11, 2009 at 2:26 pm
In the interest of full disclosure, is FITS, or Will Folks, on the payroll of the voucher crowd?
By Jessica May 11, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Pat I thought so too until Will blew that SCRG judge out of the water!
I think he really just believes in school choice!
By Gen. Longstreet May 11, 2009 at 2:39 pm
This is a holy day.
By fitsnews May 11, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Longstreet Lives!
And Pat, don’t you know?
We’re on EVERYBODY’s payroll.
-FITS
By Cooter Brown May 11, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I likes dis here poem on our’n Memorial Day:
Ode: Sung on the Occasion of Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead, Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S.C., 1867
By Henry Timrod
Sleep sweetly in your humble graves,
Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause;
Though yet no marble column craves
The pilgrim here to pause
In seeds of laurel in the earth
The blossom of your fame is blown,
And somewhere, waiting for its birth,
The shaft is in the stone!
Meanwhile, behalf the tardy years
Which kept in trust your storied tombs,
Behold! your sisters bring their tears,
And these memorial blooms
Small tributes! but your shades will smile
More proudly on these wreaths to-day,
Than when some cannon-moulded pile
Shall overlook this bay.
Stoop, angels, hither from the skies!
There is no holier spot of ground
Than where defeated valour lies,
By mourning beauty crowned.
By Pat Hendrix May 11, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Hmm, no answer? Suspicious.
And if the answer is in the affirmative, I’m going to suggest you stop using the term “pimp” in the discussion of vouchers. The irony would be too thick.
By James the Foot Soldier May 11, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Happy High Holy day to Mr. Graham and all the rebel yellars!
By me May 11, 2009 at 3:40 pm
looks like we would have been better off if the south won, probably wouldnt have the near dictatorships we’ve had for the last 50 years. America died in 1865. Thats obvious from what lincoln did to his citizens during the war in the north. O well, maybe we can hope for a 3rd american revolution .
By Pat Hendrix May 11, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I hear ya, dude. The last 50 years, when the US rose to the greatest economic and military power in the world with a high standard of living, was an utter nightmare. If we could get back to those mystical agrarian ways (aka: owning black folks), things would be much better.
Too bad the “third revolution” has been postponed again:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28559
By me May 11, 2009 at 5:05 pm
^ somehow i seriously doubt the south would have continued owning slaves for more then 30 years after that. It wouldnt have made any economic sense to do so. But you can continue to enjoy your patriot act and mexican invasion and still believe we are free and the greatest place on earth, you’ll be the only one.