A Very Special Conversation

Image by Andrew Braithwaite, license cca 2.0 generic

This is a conversation I've been tracking from the Politico community and one other source:

Obama [1]: "On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom."

Then Dodd talks about his "long, rugged path":

Senator Dodd [2]: "My patience is running out, I’ve extended the hand. I’ve written provisions in this bill to accommodate various interests. But I’m not going to continue doing this if all I’m getting the other side is a suggestion somehow that this is a partisan effort." (para. 2)

[They are spreading] "outright falsehoods” [which are] “now being repeated by people who should know better and frankly do know better." (para. 3 end)


Then these comments come flying at Dodd, and at the commenters:

Commenter 1: "Democrats...THE PARTY OF NO." [3]

Commenter 2: "Why not cut them out of the loop entirely on all issues? Their stated intransigence is equalled only by their political ignorance in condemning themselves to a long spell of superminority irrelevance."

Commenter 3: "The American people are sick and tired of the GOP's refusal to GET TO WORK."

Commenter 4: "Dodd is both a crook, and in charge of this bill."

Commenter 5: "D-day (roasted rats) is coming at a poll near you 11/7 !"

Commenter 6: "The Republican Party is not interested in governing unless it calls the shots."

Commenter 7: "How can anyone take the GOP seriously when all they're doing is trying to block reform be rehashing the same stale GOP talking points they used with health care?"

Commenter 8: "SORRY, THE PARTY OF NO LABEL BELONGS TO REPUBLICANS SOLELY!

NO TO AMERICANS BENEFITS

NO TO HEALTH CARE REFORM

NO TO BANKING REFORM"

//Caps make the world a better place.>>

Commenter 9: "REALITY BE DAMNED!"

Commenter 10: "These people aren't interested in facts, WWE. They lie, even to themselves. To recognize what Republicans are doing woudl be, for the Republican minions, the same as recognizing their own gullibility and stupidity. They MUST ignore the facts. If they didn't, they'd lose whatever little self-esttem they have left after lifetimes of being left behind and walked over and ignored because they are too stupid to understand the world."

Okay, this isn't the entire discussion, but you get the idea.


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Footnotes:

Feel free to question the use of any source or context of any quote from source:

[1] Obama Inaugural Speech, paragraphs 7-9, source: CNN.com; http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/obama.politics/index.html

[2] Carrie Burdoff Brown, "Chris Dodd threatens to cut GOP out of financial reform talks," http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35800.html, 4/14/2010

[3] Message board for [2], http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35800.html#commentsform, first 20 comments

Why the Confederate Flag?

Civil War Monument and Cemetery in Owingsville, KY. Attribution conditional Fair Use license by C. Bedford Crenshaw

You look out at the great sacrifices of the past, those who have come, fought and died for family, land and what they valued, for the old and the young, giving their lives when they had barely begun for a home they would never see again, entire generations massacred, their blood trampled in the wine press. Proud flags flying high over the hills, strong spirits screaming loud through the valleys, young men in their prime, following orders from generals who drive up death tolls because they don't understand that the protective formations they were taught so long ago are killing their men in greater numbers now. Deaths by the thousands, thousands of unique individuals destroyed from the earth, cast to the uncertainty of the cold grave with bullets in their chest, broken bones, agonizing infections and tears of terror and rivers of blood dripping down their face as they look up in to the eternal sky for their final moments on Earth.

It's no wonder that such a thing would leave an imprint on a people. And it's no surprise that those who lived took back both horror and pride at their ordeal and their survival. It is true that it has not been forgotten, though it is untrue that people are bitter - that's something Yankees like to think. But there is a proud rivalry, and like it or not, people down here think of themselves as American AND Southern at equal levels.

It is true that to some people find the Confederate Battle Flag offensive. It is also true that it stands for many things to many people.

To me, this symbol stands for the following: standing up for yourself, especially local vs. national, the cultures of the Southeastern United States, both refined and otherwise, rebellion from oppression, and standing up for the weak against the moneyed interest of Northern Industrialists, and a better, more honest America. There are two groups of people who object tot this symbol.

Addressing the first group: This symbol also stands for History, and who Southerners are as a people, and that's where I think some people, though they do not realize the source, object to it. Some people would erase the past. This is especially common among the white, educated wealthy Southerner who doesn't want to be associated with redneck land, slavery and past abuses. They would take all the pain, all the death, the agony, the abuses, and throw it out, but they don't realize it runs in their blood, and they don't realize that it's a complete package. You can't have a past and have no pain, you can't have a future and have no values, and values are rooted in the past as they have to be. You can't stand for something - and destroy yourself so someone doesn't get angry at you or feel hurt.

Some people would lie, and demand that others do so. The minute they here a criticism, an idea they don't like, they demand an apology, surrounding themselves with yes men. They demand conformity, comfort, and what isn't theirs. They don't care what's inside the dish, they never did and never will. To them, there's no value to anything that can't be seen and therefore doesn't touch their petty hearts. As we lie and lie and lie, our enemies become clouded in fog, our up becomes down, our down becomes up, our anger becomes passive aggression, divisions become permaneant as people are too afraid to express them, and they pass them on to their children and their friends to express themselves the only way they can. Lawfulness becomes a joke, and the individual becomes condemned to a spiral of delusion, deceit, and paranoid back watching.

But there's one other group, those who have memories of their own, and those who believe they are standing up for them. These memories are sad, and true, and I deeply regret what has happened to those people. But to allow these racial terrorists to steal symbols that stand for the South, good and bad, is to let them win. See, to let them steal our values, our past, our lives from us by the inevitable rubbing out that accompanies this silencing is to ennoble them, to promote them, to give them free space in our hearts and minds, in our memories and in our soul. You take the symbols, the analogies, the stories, the way of living, and you push it out of public sight, along with those who still cherish it lovingly delivered to Satan for his evil use. It is to give them, our Satan, Southern history, to give them Southern culture, to give them the South, along with many of the people who reside in it.

You can't destroy everything just because of a flaw, for if you did, the fires would burn the entire Earth to ashes, for there is nothing that is flawless on Earth. There is still a lot that is beautiful about the South: the millitary tradition, the sense of honor, the hospitality, the delicate style and refinement of Southern art, architecture and design, an extremely open society that includes people much more readily then it excludes them, the sense of history and the deeper side of life, and a quiet stubborn strength that will not submit to anyone, under any conditions, often to the aggravation of Dixieland itself!

Those whose character is destroyed have no values, no roots, no sense of history or depth, no idea of who they are. Maybe they can discover it, but that takes years, years wasted, years lost, years never seen again. Why waste the youth of our children over pettiness? Especially since they may well turn out exactly like we did anyways.

We can't just abandon our past. It is part of us, and we are a product of our past more then anything else. The Confederate Flag will continue to be the standard of this website, for now and the future to come, exactly because I hope to promote its use as a symbol of the South and Culture in general.

The American Rifle

Copyright Wikimedia User Hmaag, GNU License 1.2

From the edays of settlement, resisting indians, and hunting wild turkey, the firearm has had a place in the American heart. With the gun comes warriordom; you are a fighter to be reckoned with as long as you have a gun in your hand.

For some people, this means defending against oppresive governments or foreign invaders, for others it means hunting and providing for their family in the way that nature made us too, for still others it is a defense against criminals and protecting your property. For a few very wicked souls, it means inflicting your evil on others.

Firearms crimes are often cited by gun critics as a reason to ban or phase out or limit gun ownership. There are several weakpoints in their argument: 1) criminals don't obey the law, 2) few criminals want to die or face a chance of death, and 3) statistically, even if you will only nail your bandit 20% of the time, and he nails you the other 80, you, as a law-abiding citizen, still have the advantage, because he must steal almost every day, and most American citizens will probably only be robbed maybe once in their lifetime. Even those who have it the worse will hardly face it everyday.

Also, in Europe the nation with the highest gun ownership rate, Switzerland, a nation where even millitary rifles are legal for most men and there is a holiday to celebrate their gun ownership tradition, has the lowest crime rate.

America is a violent country, and always has been, and will be for quite some time. This is not entirely a bad thing. That natural spunk and energy has made us a mighty force throughout the entire world with our innovation, curiosity, rebellion, activism, entrepreneurship and many other products of that same bloody mind - we are a Sanguine country, hear us roar. But it is true that, no matter what we do, our crime rates will always be higher then Englands, as that freedom of mind makes us prone to both good and evil.

Good Redneck Parents Movie List

You know, whether it's my own post on "Redneck America" or the country classic "What the World needs now is a few more rednecks," or any other piece protesting the deredneckification of America, I've come to realize, it's really very silly. See, we just sit around complaining about something that is happening around us, maybe earning a little coin on the side, and we aren't doing anything about it. So, enough talk, let's talk about how you raise em' right.

This list of motion pictures, complete with accessory of popcorn, is perfect for redneckifying your little ones (these films being quality, the moonshine is strictly optional):

- "Second Hand Lions" (McCanlies, 2003)
- "Serenity" (Whedon, 2005)
- "The Lady Vanishes" (Hitchcock, 1938)
- "The Quiet Man" (Ford, 1952)
- "The Longest Day" (Annakin, 1962)
- "Gettysburg" (Maxwell, 1993)
- "Gods and Generals" (Maxwell, 2003, Prequel to Gettysburg)
- "How the West was Won" (Ford et al., 1962)
- "Sweet Home Alabama" (Tennant, 2002)
- "High Noon" (Zinneman, 1952)
- "Death to Smoochy" (DeVito, 2002)
- "Deliverance" (Boorman, 1972)
- "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Masuda, Fukasaku, Fleischer, 1970)
- "Troop Beverly Hills" (Kanew, 1989)
- "October Sky" (Johnston, 1999)
- "We are Marshall" (McG, 2006)
- "Smoke Signals" (Eyre, 1998)

These you may wish to show when they're a little older:

- "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (Sharman, 1975)
- "The Patriot" (Emmerich, 2000)
- "The Birds" (Hitchcock, 1963)
- "Brokeback Mountain" (Lee, 2005)
- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Forman, 1975)
- "A Clockwork Orange" (Kubrick, 1971)
- "Dr. Strangelove" (Kubrick, 1964)

If anyone else has any suggestions, say them.