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A black state senator is pushing a bill that would require South Carolina cities and counties to give their workers a paid day off for Confederate Memorial Day or lose millions in state funds.
It was a failed rebellion, drop it already.
#26 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:22 AM ESTOnly failed because the South continually strove for a peaceful resolution while abiding by the then current civilized rules of warfare. The North only began to make headway when they started breaking those rules, using terrorist tactics, and attacking and destroying non-military targets.
If Beauregard and Johnston had pressed the first Battle of Bull Run, you'd all be singing Dixie.
As far as Lincoln freeing the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, that proclamation did not free any slaves in Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia as they were still Union, or any southern state (or part of a state) already under Union control. The proclamation was a mixed threat/bribe to the confederacy, any southern state that returned to the Union by January 1863 would have retained the ability to hold slaves.
If the Civil War was all about Slavery, then why would Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia and Delaware, ALL SLAVE STATES, have fought on the Union Side??? And why would the emancipation proclamation have had SPECIFIC EXEMPTIONS for slave holders in Tenessee, Seven Counties in Virginia, New Orleans and 13 Louisiana Parishes?
End result, Failed. A holiday that raises up a failed revolution, is a bad idea. That would be like England having a Good Job America On that whole Revolution Thing Day. I don't care about the basis of the war, the south failed. No reward for that.
I am absolutely appalled at this Gesture since this pathectic country does not recognize the original inhabitants at all.Oh yes,some goofballs seem to think Thanksgiving is an American Indian Holiday but in reality Holidays are for all other races and not any single American Indian day is listed. Yet people FAIL TO SEE "Had it not been for the American Indian people the USA would be under the rule of Germany or Japan because American Indian Code Talkers helped to win the War by using their indiginous languages and the Nazi's and Japanese could not break the codes or language. Confederate Holiday! Oh yes sure and screw the American Indians one more time! Nex time you see an Indian thank them for their relatives who fought to keep AMERIKKKA free.
#27 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:26 AM ESTThis must be one of those "Woe is me, I am NOT WHITE" people whining about how bad they got it....POOR BABY......
Accept responsibility for your own actions and move on! NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE YOUR ENEMY! Arthur1952.......A FINE example of a "Double Standard" racist living in Ameri"KKK"a as he calls it..... Is that violins I hear playing in the background???
The only thing that will unite this country is a good old fashioned attack on AMERICA!
If another country or terrorist group decided to invade our borders, I believe even the most racists person here would fight along side their "foe" for the good of AMERICA.
Remember September 12th 2001?
All that mattered for that ONE day, was that we were all AMERICANS!
arthur the natives dont need their own holiday, they dont have to work!!! they have been given reservations that no one else can build on so its protected land and non taxable, so they built casinos on it. they get huge welfare amounts for being native, why would you need a holiday when they already have so many of these privaleges just because their ancestors lost land, get over it already, none if you alive have ever lost land like that, same as no black alive has ever been a slave. and in contrast to the ongoing arguement of how the whites stole the land, you need to remember that certain tribes helped the white man destroy other tribes they considered the enemy, if you had all banded togather you probably would have driven whitey right off this country back when they 1st landed.
You young lady are full of shlitz go have another budwiser or prozac.
Wonderful idea! Black people have habits , ways of doing looked down upon by whites; whites have the same adequate habits , ways of doing looked down upon by blacks. Yet here in Columbia, S.C. , close to 100,000 people (50% of either race) will go to work today, with each other, depend on each other and no one will be hurt, have fights, demean each other, and all will go home to normal lives...teenagers, wives, husbands, neighbors, banks, economies, payments, birthdays, and pray again for tomorrow to be like today. It is time to realize that the South is the South, with all its honor, glory, warts and past deeds. This is good news for Celebration of what we have, who we are, which includes who we have been.
We have Black History Month for exactly the same reasons, I think.
Clif Judy
#28 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:31 AM ESTThe Troll...very apropos title.
You equate Nazism with the Southern Confederacy...that is just outlandish.
Your ignorance and self-righteous moral indignation are breathtaking.
Get educated you simpleton!.
#29 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:35 AM ESTInstead of da Senator trying to figure ways to cost companies more money for ''free pay'' days for their loads ......... maybe he should concentrate on getting workers back to work!
I'm so sick of the blowhards living in the past with thier entitlement mentality. HOW MUCH BRAIN POWER WAS USED TO COME UP WITH THIS ASSININE IDEA.... duh!
#30 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:41 AM ESTAnd to think, this idiot state senator, actually is being paid, to come up with such ridiculous BS after all these years. This guy needs get a grip, and serve ALL the peoples interests, not just his own severely warped sense of History.
#31 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:48 AM ESTIs this guy nuts? As if 12 paid holidays isn't already overtaxing the economy, now some numbnutz wants to add more. It is about time federal, state, county and municipal employees start loosing some of these perks.
#32 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:49 AM ESTRight on! It's just another excuse for government workers to get yet another day off! You notice that it will not be a "national" holiday where EVERYONE gets off - just government workers (and bankers!) AND SENATORS and, perhaps a few people in the south! Sure wish I were a southern government worker.......
What would have benn Ford's response if a white senator wanted to make a "Confederate holiday"?
#33 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:51 AM ESTEXACTLY MY POINT! Racism is a "DOUBLE STANDARD" people!
Just another piece of worthless legislation this person is trying to pass. Why doesn't he look at more important issues such as unemployment, housing, health care, gangs, or even the illegals? Looks to me that there is a certain black senator that doesn't have enough to do and therefore is overpaid.
#34 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:56 AM ESTI think none of them have enough to do and therefore are all overpaid.
Sen.Ford needs to watch 48 Hours on Thursday nights to help him determine where his undivided attention should be. Forget this poppycock about another meaningless holiday.
He can explain this away to his black constituents. He's trying to get more white votes. In the end, he's only in it for himself, just like every other politician.
That's about right.....I just consider the source
Want...want...want...take...take...take
#35 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:05 AM ESTAnother Holiday for goverment like Martin King day this is for goverment not us the working class wake up people this is your money.
#36 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:07 AM EST
Lets have a Union Holiday and separate the races a little more. Let's have the United Caucasian Fund, NAAWP, 100 White Men of America, the (CAPC) Caucasian American Planning Commission, National Association of White Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NAWHOOD),National Association of White Accountants (NAWA),White Wall Street Merchants Association,Whites In Government (WIG),White Culinarians Alliance (WCA),Caucasian American Speaker Bureau (CASB),White Women In Sisterhood For Action (WISA),National Society of White Engineers (NSWE),Miss White USA - That on really gets, Miss Black USA, but have a Miss White USA and it is called discrimination. There are many more black organizations. Is there such a thing as reverse discrimination? Lets create more ways to divide everyone, how about I call myself a White-American? First it was colored ,than black, now its African. Does anyone know the history of slavery? Why do you never ever hear about the African Tribes that would capture their own people for beads, to trade with the returning slave ships. Why not ask the African nation for reparations? Does anyone know before Lincoln was shot, his intent was to release them from slavery and allow the Africans to return to their homeland on ships? But Wikie shot him before he was able to carry this out. That was taken out of the history books so today you don't hear about it, again history was re-written. You never hear about the Union whites who were sympathic to the blacks and hid them in their homes , or tunnels so they could have them travel North.
Why not just have an All American Holiday?
#37 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:10 AM ESTAMEN! Finally, someone who sees my point!
This bill is so typical of our country. Instead of adding another day off, where most would sleep, run errands, etc.; why not just plain ole recognition and education!
#38 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:11 AM ESTThis is not the answer.
The civil war was not fought over slavery. the only good thing that came from the civil war was that ultimately slavery was banned.
Lincoln did not emancipate the slaves in the pro union states. He only emancipated the slaves in the confederate states. Read the proclamation.
The most successful "changing reality" snow job in history of mankind is the demonizing of the South after the civil war. It is so firmly believed today that you have to know that no one has really ever looked at the facts, no one has read the actual senate testamony before war was started.
Lincoln was a good writer and he certainly was a thinker, but the greatest sin in American politics came under his leadership and from him. Thousands were killed needlessly for the South wanting to be free of Northern aggression because he refused to consider any position except his own. In order to put to rest the unrest between black and white, we must seek the truth.
In the snow job done on history, Lincoln forever forged a division between races. Hatred does not come from color but from the beliefs that come from the deception. It is time for us to uncover the truth, change our thinking, and move on to a greater America. Neither side was all good or all bad. Slavery was wrong. The war was NOT fought over slavery. Lincoln was wrong in his leadership in the five years before his death. Under his leadership, hundreds of thousands of Americans died. Lincoln barred slavery in the confederate states to reduce the number of blacks fighting with the confederacy. Slavery existed in some northern states even after Lincoln's death. I ofter wonder if Lincoln ever reflected on the war he unleashed on America. It did not need to have happened.l Read the emancipation proclamation and know that the truth of the war is not what you were taught. The truth is that the Southerners were still embued with the concept of freedom from the hundred years of American history before. They wanted freedom from the North. The North needed to control the Southern states economically. That is what the war was about. Revering Lincoln makes me sick. Those who hated slavery should be revered wherever they may be found.
There is no difference between black and white that a good education for all would not fix.
#39 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:13 AM ESTIf you have a beef with Lincoln, it should be over the fact that he aggressively pursued keeping the Union together, to the point of freeing slaves only in the South and suspending Habeus Corpus among other acts.
This makes him either a saint or a sinner, depending on your viewpoint.
I do not 'worship' Lincoln but I am aware that he would have been just as 'ruthless' in effectively reuniting North and South, instead of instituting that debacle known as Radical Reconstruction, forced, against his known wishes, on the South after his assassination.
This is by a descendant of more Confederate grandpappies and uncles than you can shake a stick at
Suzytx, you are right, Lincoln wanted to re-unite the states NOT punish the Southerners for standing by their convictions. He tho't the ONLY way to heal the nation was forgiveness, NOT pusnishment, like the Reconstruction turned out to be. Reconstruction is the MAIN reason for racial problems in the South. It crammed punishment down the throats of most Southerners who had never even owned a slave. It made them resent the black man for what was perceived as "special" treatment and the cause of their problems. Reconstruction is still alive and hurting the South to this day. Just check laws regarding voter registration in many southern states. The Feds are still controlling the states' laws which is WRONG.
As someone who has actually studied Civil War history, I know more than most people posting here. Slavery was NOT the cause of the war, but a morale factor in the war. The North wanted to control the South and national economics, the South rebelled. The actual percentage of slave owners is between 1-3% with most only owning 1-2 slaves. While slavery is not right by our standards, it was an institute that had been going on for thousands of years around the world. Southerns were no worse than the rest. Truth be told, it was BLACKS who started the slave trade and Europeans who expanded it. So if there is anger for black slaves in the Americas, look back at the African tribes who started this!
As for this holiday proposal, I do not think we need a holiday. BUT I do applaude Sen. Ford for his unbiased thinking regarding "equal rights" in history. It takes someone without racism to be able to stand be and objectively view the Civil War. And as others have pointed out, Blacks fought for the South too.
And lastly to address the issue of slave abuse, What kinda of idiot would destroy his own valuable property?! Yes, there was abuse but not on the rampant scale portrayed by many today. Have any of you ever visited an historical site with the slave cabins still on it? Many are better than homes that some blacks CHOSE to live in today! Secondly, the slave labor was not "free". It cost a fortune to buy, feed, house and clothe slaves. Many slaves had emotional ties to their owners and chose to sharecrop after the war. Like with all people, there were some good and some bad slave owners. My last comment is that slavery was already a dying instititute at the time of the Civil War due to mechanization. If the North had "allowed" slavery to due a "natural" death over a slightly longer period, race relations might be a lot better off because there wouldn't be the anger over the santions instituted after the war. With modern equipment coming into play, plantations would not have been able to even afford to keep slaves and freeing them would have been there only really option. I hate to say it, but human nation being what it is, NO ONE wants something forced down their throat but would rather do it on their own terms. Many slave owners were already freeing slaves due to the reasons above on their own. And another fact that many need to note, many Northerners didn't want anything to do with the freed slaves. The had their own prejudices, so they weren't saints.
Get the Facts people, the Civil War wasn't started over slavery and the punishment following the war only made race relations worse for the next 140 years.
PS- Robert E Lee did NOT believe in slavery but he DID believe in States Rights and chose to serve his state of Virginia in the Confederacy.
Sorry about my typos. I can actually usually spell.
#40 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:14 AM ESTNo one has ever told me to exclude any soldier on memorial day, and as such, every memorial day when I am contemplating the sacrifice's by other's that ultimately led to me enjoying life and freedoms in America I actually think about all the soldiers that have died in American conflicts.
I also remember the fact that native Americans were villified as savages so it would be easier to kill and murder them while they defended there lands from the mostly European thieves that invaded North and South America, it was never the New World, the natives always knew where they were, and there was nothing new except for the coach roachs in ships that kept showing up on the eastern shores.
#41 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:17 AM ESTThank you ,
All citizens of the USA need to hone up on their History. It would be a shame if the 50,000 plus black Slaves and Freemen of the South that voluntarily fought for the Confederate States, to protect their homeland against the Northern Aggresion were to be forgotten. Not only the White Soldiers should be remembered. I think this Holiday is a great Idea.
I have a Dream that one day Race will no longer be an Issue in the USA.
God Bless our President.
#42 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:18 AM ESTI will respect "our" president when he starts to show some integrity, so far he's not doing a good job at picking .................. honest people to serve the people of America.
Leaders should never, ever choose anyone that has even the appearance of impropriety, much less people that have'nt paid they'er tax's and then claim it's just a speed bump.
Race has nothing to do with this, conservatives were the founding fathers of this nation and the disease of liberalism threatens the very existance of The United States of America.
My point exactly graeywolf, let's stop dividing ourselves and creating all these groups and separate holidays. As a Viet vet, It didn't matter what your race was we all watched each others back.
#43 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:23 AM ESTWhy does the state government feel the need to withhold moneys to get stupid ideas and their personnel agendas crammed down the local government throat? If this passes and local governments are forced to follow this, I would hope that the local governments withhold the states license plate taxes, income taxes and every other tax that they help collect for the state. then use that money to pay for this program. If theres extra, oh well.
#44 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:30 AM ESTThe Fed does this crap all the time, .............. it's known by another name, extortion and or blackmail.
Federal Highway funds were with held, or threatened to be with held from Louisiana until they raised the legal drinking age from 18 too 21. I'm not saying 18 was a great idea to drink, yet the Fed was going to have it's say in states business.
This is what was lost during the 2nd American Revolution; ie the American Civil War. Before the Civil War the United States of America was a Republic, with each State basically being able to set it's own laws of their State.
This was the most damaging thing ever done to Americans and citizens of individual States, we are now bending over and grabbing our heels for Uncle Sam.
can't we all just get along.
The state of South Carolina is a hemmoriod on the butt of America.
If Johnny could march home he would tell you the gave all and lost, respect Gen. Lee's surrender. Memorial Day covers us all.
#45 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:34 AM ESTso you want a black Pres. Obama to sign into law a holiday that will remind people that his relatives was consider less then human. 2 wrongs don't make a right. I remember going to white farmers restarant in texas in my airforce uniform and after walking 1/2 of a mile in the desert sun was told we don't serve color people. i remember being taught in school that blacks didn't do anything but work as slaves. i remember being forced to the back of the bus and to have to go to the toilet in the woods while riding grayhound bus. Today after much pain and forcing myself to love those who used me and my relatives for personal gain. today my family is mixed and when i look at the children that I love its values are confirmed. you have a right hold on to your twisted emotions but if i hold on to my former emotions it won't help anyone. may God forgive you for you know not what you do. if you do know what you do may he give you what you deserve.
#46 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:39 AM ESTI was born and raised in the north and now live in the south. I am getting sick of people thinking that the Civil War was about slavery and that everything having to do with the Confederate is evil. Slavery was brought into play by Pres. Lincoln solely to keep the European countries out of the war and away from becoming Confederate allies.
If non-white people want this country to become less segregated, they need to stop making such a big deal about being called African-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc. I am not an Italian-American.
#47 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:39 AM ESTSo this senator want to "force" people to recognise and understand what the civil war is about. Isn't "forcing" somebody to do something a form of slavery?
#48 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:40 AM ESTSteve - well said!
throw bribery in there as well, threating to withhold funds to the state if they don't day yes, is excactly that
I think this is an issue best left alone. There are a lot of opinions on why we fought the Civil War. History recorded the reason was to free the slaves from the South. In the background there were other reasons some express such as for money or power. This is true in any war that there may be many underlying reason to fight. Soldiers fight for simple causes -- safety of tier country and freedom from oppression. While money and power may have been Political motives, I believe that history accurately reflects Patriotic mood of the people who fought freeing the slaves. This was a war where White's killed White's, with families sometimes fighting each other to free slaves. The Black community has never recognized the sacrifice many white families made in the Civil War on abolishing slavery. Nor have they ever honored this day and all the men (white and black) who died standing up against slavery. Every Black man can tell you how they suffered from slavery even if they were never a slave or met any of their relatives that were enslaved. Blacks have historically passed down the persecution part of history, unlike the Chineese who were also enslaved. Unfortunately Blacks never seem to have passed down anything good from any of the history. All slave owners were not terrible. All Americans did not have slaves. Real people did die to free slaves. Unless we are going to use this holiday to honor those brave Americans (White and Black) that fought and gave up thier lives to abolish slavery, then it is best left alone. The soilders who fought and gave ther lives did not do this for gold or riches, but out of Patriotism. The Patriotic Campain for the war was to free the slaves. I have long belived that for all the complaining Blacks have done about slavery, that they and all Americans, owe at least one day of thanks to all the men and women who died trying to abloish it. If Black's were to embrace this day in history it would tend to bring us all closer together. It would force the Black community to recognize that many whites were in support of the freedom of all men, Blacks included, and had great distain for a lot of what has gone on in history. Until Black's are willing to embrace the Civil War as a glorious day that all men rose together. A day as signifcant as Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speach". A day we all acknowledge that Whites throughout the country stood with Black's in a fight to free men. This day will not be looked on properly. Fredom is the most cherrished right we have in this country and we hold it high. We go to war all over the glode to help free oppressed people. It is in our constitution. We fought a wars of fredom here on our own soil, from Britain, and from Slavery, and everyone should remember. If this day was truley recognized as a day to honor the men and women who died abolishing Slavey and for the freedom of fellow men by everyone (white and black) this would truely be a great step in bridging the seperation and bias between the races.
#49 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:42 AM ESTKate,
Don't worry about your typos. You got your point across, a part of History that many people do not even know.
Arthur1952,
Also a point of History that the majority do not realize or acknowledge.
Russellm,
You mentioned Columbus Day. Do you realize that Christopher and his brother decimated a tribe of Indians from 300,000 on the Island Dominican Republic to 7,000 within about 14 years due to Slavery and Forced labor. I think in Academic circles they call it Genocide.
People, please educate yourselves.
#50 - Wed Feb 4, 2009 7:45 AM ESTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
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