Free Republic

Qhote from Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ: I do think a system that allows billionaires to exist, when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don’t have access to public health, is wrong.

It was 150 years ago today that Florida declared itself sovereign from the United States. Some Southern states have marked the anniversaries of secession with celebrations; in South Carolina, a secession gala was met with protests and controversy. In Florida, a reenactment was quietly held by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Tallahassee on Saturday, where about 40 volunteers dressed in period attire performed a condensed version of the convention. It was at that convention where a 62-7 vote led to secession in 1861, making Florida the third state to leave and later join the Confederate States of America.

Remember how during the run up to the election, all the left pundits and talking heads and their compatriots in the Old Media said that no white person would vote for Barack Obama? Well, despite the singular fact that Barack Obama convincingly won the popular vote in a country that sees a majority of its voters are white, the Old Media is still insisting that all southerners are slavery-loving, neo-confederates that are no different than they were in 1860. For the Washington Post, Robert S. McElvaine is here to tell us in "The Red, the Blue and the Gray" that...

The thought of having to dignify the legacy of the Confederacy’s only president by driving my car over his highway rather than his decrepit corpse is enough to make me want to vomit...If there is to be a Jefferson Davis Highway it should begin at the African Civil War Memorial and end at his grave, where onlookers can pull over and spit.

Rep. Ron Paul told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday that the war was a mistake – the American Civil War. "Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war…. [President Abraham Lincoln] did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic," Paul said.

KENNESAW, Ga.--Is the history of our great nation important to you? Union Gen. William T. Sherman said of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, "After all, I think Forrest as the most remarkable man our 'Civil War' produced on either side." This came from a man who was once a foe of Forrest on the field of battle. Why do some folks attack America's heritage? Several years ago, attempts were made to change the name of Forrest Park in Memphis, Tenn. Now, there are people trying to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in Jacksonville, Fla. But was...

Historian James M. McPherson's magnificent collection of essays This Mighty Scourge; Perspectives on the Civil War contains an essay on General William Tecumseh Sherman's famous, or infamous, "march through Georgia " that sheds light on the success of his march in bringing victory, and peace, to the United States. ********************************************* Calling such counterterrorist strikes "war crimes," as many who are critical of both America (and Israel) do, is extremely unfair. In fighting an enemy who kills soldiers and civilians without distinction, it is not possible to fight a completely "clean" war, without losing it to the terrorist enemies. No country...

...he was stunned to see two large Confederate flags flying from trucks...emblazoned with the words "The South Shall Rise Again." I'm stunned, too, that people still think it is cool to fly this flag. Our society should bury these flags -- not flaunt them...because the Confederate flag symbolizes racial tyranny to so many... ...This flag doesn't belong on city streets, in videos or in the middle of civil discussion. It belongs in our past -- in museums and in history books -- along with the ideas it represents.

Any attempt to judge our history by today’s standards — out of the context from which it occurred — is at best problematic and at worst dishonest. For example, consider the following quotes: “So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished.” “ ... there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.” By today’s standards, the person who made the first statement, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, would be considered enlightened....

(Greenville-AP) January 14, 2007 - US Senator Christopher Dodd calls Sunday for the removal of the Confederate flag that flies at the South Carolina Statehouse. The Connecticut Democrat was attending a Martin Luther King Junior memorial event at a Greenville church Sunday night. He says black and white young people from South Carolina are fighting under one flag in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dodd says the Confederate flag belongs in a museum. Dodd will be at the King Day at the Dome rally at the Statehouse Monday. The event was started six years ago as the National Association for the Advancement...

The Selected Civil War Photographs Collection contains 1,118 photographs. Most of the images were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers, and a selection of enlisted men. An additional two hundred autographed portraits of army and navy officers, politicians, and cultural figures can be seen in the Civil War photograph album, ca. 1861-65. (James Wadsworth Family Papers). The full album pages are displayed as well as the front and verso of each carte de visite, revealing...

The NCAA will consider expanding its ban of championship events in South Carolina, possibly disallowing baseball and football teams from hosting postseason games, because the Confederate flag is displayed on Statehouse grounds.

A Confederate heritage group says its free-speech rights were violated when a landowner removed a billboard promoting Southern history near the famed Darlington Raceway. The Sons of Confederate Veterans plans to demonstrate at the State House next month and buy radio advertisements to complain about losing its billboard on U.S. 52, about two miles from the racetrack. “This is the most chilling thing I’ve seen against freedom of speech,” spokesman Don Gordon said. The Sons of Confederate Veterans bought the billboard this spring in response to remarks by a NASCAR executive about the rebel flag. The billboard featured a Confederate...

I love history. I’m proud of my Southern heritage. But for me to be angry to the point of protesting a moment in Southern history that happened nearly a century-and-a-half ago would be just, well, nonsensical. And would in some ways tarnish that heritage.

CARY, N.C. - The joke around here is that this town's name is really an acronym for ''Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.'' As far as Vernon Yates is concerned, they haven't been contained well enough. Nearly surrounded by pricey subdivisions, the cinderblock Yates Grocery and Farm Supply sells neither anymore. As if things weren't bad enough, style maven Martha Stewart has chosen this Raleigh suburb to build a signature neighborhood of houses designed after her homes in Maine and New York. Holding court near a potbellied stove, the 69-year-old man in the suspenders and NASCAR shirt laments that his old...

The idea to honor only Confederate soldiers is a bad idea...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -— Three men face charges after being accused of damaging a car that displayed the Confederate flag in Rochester. Police said a woman approached two people in a parked car, upset over the flag. The people sitting in the car told police the woman threatened to "get her boys to take care of it.''

MARYVILLE, Tenn. A civil rights activist is carrying a Confederate battle flag from Johnson City to Maryville because he says southern pride is being silenced with a pending school decision. H.K. Edgerton -- who is black -- says no more Rebel flags will be allowed at high school football games there if the school board proposal passes. The school board is expected to vote to limit flags and noise makers later this month. Maryville schools director Mike Dalton says the board feels like the group should deal with anything that's offensive to some. But Edgerton says banning the flag is...

Richard McElrath and his sister, Natheley McElrath, at a community forum in West Charlotte, N.C. (Photo by Michael Falco) RACE AND IMMIGRATION Pressed by a New Invasion of Yankees, Schools of the New South Resegregate BY Jonathan Tilove   CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jane Henderson's voice trembled as she implored the school board not to let Charlotte-Mecklenburg's schools resegregate any more than they already have.     Jack Heilpern, wife Mary, son James, 17, and daughter Jennifer (on stairs), 12, in the foyer of their Huntersville, N.C., home. James, a high school junior, and a fellow student started a movement...

I believe there is alot wrong with our current goverment and I just cant wait until the south rise again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!