[ArneFufkin]

If Lincoln acknowledged the unfettered right of the rural Southern states to seceed ... what would restrain economic powerhouses like New York, Pennsylvania and Massachussetts from seceeding? They didn't need the economic support of Indiana, Rhode Island and Delaware. If a gold lode was found in Iowa ... why wouldn't they secceed? How in the world could the Union abide a foreign port at the mouth of the Mississippi River? No states were forced to join the Union originally, and no Confederate states were engulfed and annexed by the victors after the War.

I don't mind the Confederate flag, because it is a symbol of brave kids who fought and died to protect their families, homes and way of life. That's honorable. I'm glad South Carolinans told the world to stick it - people of communities can choose their own cultural icons, and the offended can hit the road if they can't abide the insult.

We need to get past all the 137 year old humiliation and obsessing though. That War is no longer a legitimate grievance for inter-generational poverty, lagging health and poor education in much of the South. We're Americans - Army Rangers don't care if the brother next to them is from Maine or Mississippi, black or white, Christian or Jew - he's kin. Geez, Abe Lincoln took an assassin's bullet in the head for his trouble. What more do some here want - General Sherman's ancestors to walk backwards replanting their tobacco fields and rebuilding livery stables?

[wardaddy]

Not bad Arnie..