In fighting to keep “heritage” Confederate descendants missing the point
Let’s move away from current events for a bit while the Obama Administration settles in (Hillary Clinton got confirmed, by the way) and take a look at the past. I don’t believe that I’ve ever touched on the issue of people who, 144 years after the end of the Civil War, still cling to the symbols of the Confederacy.
If you’ll allow me to make a broad generalization, a sizable chunk of people that display, praise and defend the symbols (and even beliefs) of the Confederacy are, quite bluntly, trash. They defend it as a sort of ‘rebel spirit’ instead of admitting that it’s often symbolic of racism. No one really assumes class from a person that has a Confederate flag on the back of their pickup truck. But what I especially love is when people decide to defend their praise of the Confederacy using the freedoms given by the United States. Therein lies a crucial contradiction that many of these people are likely too oblivious (I’m not going to say ignorant) to realize.
Page One Kentucky linked to an article in which – get this – descendants of Confederate soldiers are worried that their heritage is being attacked.
Pvt. E.F. Arthur Camp Commander Wayne Taylor likened the First Crusade to what is happening in America’s current cultural climate.
“Our heritage is not under attack by Muslim extremist … or anything so desperate. It’s under attack by our own people, sometimes our own families,” he said. “These people that are attacking our heritage, they are calling our heroes traitors or criminals. Our symbols we all hold dear are banned. Our children are taught that our heritage is wrong, and to take up a new heritage.”
I honestly don’t think these people are quite aware of who their ‘heroes’ were, what they fought for, or just who defeated them. If they did, they would see just why this is such a large issue with many people – especially the growing percentage of non-white Americans. Here’s the 5th grade social studies explanation to help out:
Back in the 1800s, there was growing dissent between the policies of the northern and southern states (the most notable of these being slavery). For decades, the southern states threatened to secede from the Union and finally, in 1860, South Carolina did just that. Other southern states followed, creating the Confederate States of America. Eventually they fought a massive war against the United States of America and lost, once again becoming a part of the Union.
All right – can you see why the United States might have a problem with the Confederate symbols? Let’s take these morons people at their word and say that they are not using the symbols to promote racial divide. The symbols of the Confederacy promote self-interest and unwillingness to work toward the betterment of the Union. It shows shortsightedness and rash behavior. And above all else, it represents a faction that tried to wipe out the United States of America. Kind of like al Qaeda is trying to wipe out the United States of America.
These rights that you so enjoy and spout as your excuse to celebrate this crap comes from a nation that the very thing you’re celebrating tried to destroy. That makes you both ignorant and hypocritical. The Confederacy is gone. Celebrate the men who had great achievements, but do not celebrate the beliefs, the ideals, or brandish the symbols. Get over it and join the rest of us in this country, in this era.
Please.
One of Kentucky’s dumber ideas goes up in smoke
It’s not always easy to be from Kentucky. I would assume that when many Americans think of the Bluegrass state, they think of hillbillies, horse racing and moonshine. Our case is not helped by random acts of ignorance such as the requirement in our Homeland Security to acknowledge God’s role in keeping us safe from harm (not like he’d already know it, being omniscient and all). However, there is some pride to be had in our stuck-20-years-in-the-past state despite it’s awful pitfalls. I mean, at least we’re not West Virginia.
However, Governor Steve Beshear had a plan so ludicrous that it can only make us as a collective state hang our heads in shame. Thankfully, though, it’s been thrown out.
Beshear saw a big problem with Internet gambling. Rotting Kentucky, he said! A menace, a danger, a threat! So he decided to take action – if Internet gambling sites were not blocked from Kentucky users, then the state would seize their domain names. Simple as that – used in Kentucky, the state gets the domain. Sounds ridiculous, right? How could that possibly work? Because Beshear got it backed up in court. It left everyone scratching their heads, as it was an idea so ludicrous that not even Beshear’s own Attorney General Jack Conway (good guy) would back him up on it.
Also keep in mind that Beshear’s big goal is to get casino gambling legalized in Kentucky. He’s been pushing for it since he started campaigning for the job. Also keep in mind Kentucky’s biggest claim to fame, the Kentucky Derby. It symbolizes Kentucky’s horse racing legacy – something that is almost completely based upon gambling. So it’s fine when Kentucky profits from it, but evil if they don’t. Of course.
Finally, the whole thing got tossed out, but it left yet another embarassing blemish on the Kentucky reputation. Maybe God can help us out with this one.
Bidens on Oprah – really that big of a problem?
Vice-President elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill were on Oprah yesterday and made a little bit of news on their own. When asked about how Biden’s position would be good for his family, Jill told that Joe had been given the choice between the Vice-Presidency or Secretary of State, as we all now know has been given to Obama’s former Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton. Biden’s office, of course, was quick to deny, saying that he had only been offered one job by Obama, which he took.
Whoops.
So is this a big story? I’m thinking not so much. Had this come out during the campaign, you could have bet that the McCain campaign would have been all over it, though with Clinton not having been nominated for State yet, it’s hard to see where they would have gone with it. Now, what does it really matter? Biden is the VP, Clinton is the Secretary of State (nominee) and that’s the way it’s going to go. All we have here is something we didn’t know before that’s slightly interesting – and that may be giving it more credit than it’s due.
This will quickly be swept away, giving us a neat little talking point for a couple days. If Pat Buchanan of all people laughs it off and says it shows the intelligence of Joe Biden for going for the VP, I wouldn’t worry about it becoming anything big.
Oh, and Cheney’s going to be in a wheelchair today because he hurt his back moving boxes into his new home. How funny is that?
Today’s the day!
Where will YOU be when Barack Obama takes the oath of office and becomes the 44th President of the United States of America?
Me, I’ll be in a dentist chair – but I’ll still be there in spirit. If you can get to a TV in the noon-ish hour, then check it out! If not, it will be everywhere on TV and online for the rest of the week, so don’t sweat it.
Holy crap!
Farewell, Bush – please don’t come back
Last night, President Bush delivered his farewell address to the American people. While I can’t say I’m familiar with the history of such addresses, I seriously doubt the 15 minutes of Bush-speak ranks highly. It certainly has nothing on my favorite one – George Washington’s of 1897. Go look it up. He was a smart guy.
Bush, on the other end of the spectrum, spent his 15 minutes talking about the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and how much better Iraq and Afghanistan are now because of him (no, really). He gave some vague praise to American beliefs and reminded everybody that evil exists and that the United States, as the ultimate beacon of good (paraphrasing) has a responsibility to end that evil. With all that’s gone on, especially with the economy over the past months, this whole thing was hard to swallow. Thankfully it was only 15 minutes.
So with Bush’s final address out of the way and only four days to go before Barack Obama takes the oath of office, let’s look back at the past eight years. There are those who think Bush will be unjustly persecuted by judges of history for this period, and there are those who think he’s the worst President the United States has even had…and believe me, it’s harsh to be ranked under William Henry Harrison who’s remembered for little more than dying in office.
Think about what has happened in the past 8 years. On his ‘farewell tour’ Bush has done his best to focus on 9/11 and the initial response and togetherness of the period. But 9/11 was less than a year into his administration, and things have gotten much, much worse since then. Think of the Hurricane Katrina response. Think of the mishandling of Afghanistan and the clusterfuck of Iraq. Think of the horrors of the Department of Justice. Think of Abu Gharib and Guantanamo Bay. Think of a world ready to unite after 9/11 and how unwilling it is to do so now. Osama Bin Laden is still at large. The economic world is screwed. And all this happened under George W. Bush.
My biggest problem, as I’ve stated many times before, was the United States’ role in the world. After 9/11, we were in a position of leadership. Rising from the ruins of our fallen, we could have gone straight for our stated goal and had the world at our side. Instead, Bush used it to attack Iraq for no better reason than he wanted to attack Iraq. The world was not fooled by our actions and when our failure in the country became evident, despite Mission Accomplished banners, we became ridiculed and mocked globally. The legacy of 9/11 was not what Bush tries to present it as now. That legacy was forever erased by bad actions and power-grasping allowed by fear.
Fear is the legacy of the Bush administration – the fear caused initially by 9/11, then expanded by those who regularly warned of future attacks based on little more than gut-feelings, then exploited to push through items that would have been considered illegal. Fear allowed warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. Fear allowed ‘enemy combatants’ to be held in prison without charge, trial or defense for an indefinite amount of time. Fear allowed torture – TORTURE – to be performed on said ‘enemy combatants’.
There’s the deregulation of Wall Street that led to the economic downfall that we’re currently suffering through. There’s the politicization of the Justice Department that is not resulting in indictments. There’s the resurgence of the belief that this country was based on Christian values and should be God-based in all areas of life. There’s medical research pushed back for almost a decade because stem-cell research is wrooooong.
Under George W. Bush, the United States has been set back in a way that can not be calculated in years. The country is far worse now than I would argue it ever has been (at least since the early 30s) and finally the American people realize it and move forward. Bush can complain that things happened under his watch that may have been unfair – but too bad. You considered yourself the leader of the free world, so accept the consequences of your actions.
History will not be kind to George W. Bush, and if there’s any justice left in this country after the last eight years, a court of law will not be kind to him either.
I sense a TV movie is forthcoming
Does it make me a bad person when a feel-good story makes me want to vomit? That may not be quite accurate – it’s not so much the story itself as much as the ridiculous amount of coverage I’ve been seeing.
Perhaps you’ve heard that a plane crashed in the Hudson River yesterday. I’d be quite surprised if you hadn’t, as every news outlet has been running continuous coverage about it. The basic gist is this: a plane took off from LaGuardia, hit a bird then landed in the Hudson. All passengers got out of the plane and were quickly picked up by boats coming to help. Everyone got out a little cold, a little wet, but otherwise completely unharmed.
So what’s bad about that? First it was one passenger’s story that got to me. I saw him interviewed and interviewed and interviewed telling the same story over and over again. Heard a problem with the engine, cabin shook, captain said brace yourselves, splash, everyone quickly got out. I could have told you that – yet he keeps showing up on TV and saying that again and again. Hopefully he doesn’t try to get 15 minutes of fame out of it.
Then, the story of the “hero” captain starts being pushed. I suppose I can understand that – when a feelgood story runs its course, you try to extend it by expansion. Okay, so now I’m tired of it. Then I see local news running stories on people who flew from New York to Louisville – who weren’t even on that flight – giving their opinions. That’s no longer news, my friends. That’s story milking. Did they just go hang out at the airport and wait for anything?
This story, while interesting, doesn’t warrant this kind of coverage – especially when George W. Bush’s farewell address came last night…but I’ll have more on that a little bit later.
Take your seat, Senator Burris
It’s official: Roland Burris is the junior senator from Illinois. He took the oath of office from the wonderful ray of sunshine that is Dick Cheney and (hopefully) ended the span of controversy that marred his wild ride to Washington.
And good for him, I say. There was never any reason that Burris himself should have been blocked from taking the seat he was appointed to. Sure, he was nominated by all-around douche, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. But that was, in fact, quite a legal procedure. Blagojevich is still the governor of Illinois, and with the state not taking action to prevent his appointing of Burris, there was nothing illegal about the matter. Of course it can be taken as a thumbing of the nose in the direction of Blagojevich’s detractors, and accurately so, but Burris himself should not have suffered for it. Burris is qualified for the position (much more so than, say, Caroline Kennedy in New York) and unless he paid Blagojevich for the nomination, he is not tied to the scandal.
So finally the Senate swallowed its pride and let Burris have his rightful seat. I hope his actions in the Senate outshine the steps he had to take to get there. There’s no better way to silence detractors.
Holder calls waterboarding torture because, you know, it is
Barack Obama’s nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, flat out called waterboarding torture during his confirmation hearing. “Waterboarding is torture.” He said it. That’s awesome.
This is a huge difference from Holder’s preceding (assuming Holder is confirmed) AGs Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey. Mukasey danced around the question, neither confirming nor denying the issue, and Gonzales probably denied knowing about it. He can’t really remember. In fact, I doubt he even recalls being Attorney General by this point.
With word spreading that Obama plans on issuing an executive mandate to shut down Guantanamo Bay, the sign that the coming Attorney General actually has a sense of DOING his job is excellent news for we Americans who are basically sick of all this crap. The oft-demanded charges of war crimes are still doubtful at best, but this is a good start.
