(Just as your proud Confederate namesake, methinks from this statement that you, too, might be the last to surrender. :)
I saw HK Edgerton walking through Brevard, NC this morning, and stopped and shook his hand and talked to him for a while....snopercod
I am green with envy, John (Edgerton is one of those rare people with whom I would give just about anything to spend an afternoon in conversation). Can you share with us anything that he said?
J.J. Johnson had a short (but very positive) article on SierraTimes about Edgerton a while ago. I initially read it only because I have tremendous respect for Johnson, but have since developed great respect for Edgerton as well.
Jesse Jackson has made a name as a black ‘leader’ through promoting class envy, inciting hatred among racial/ethnic groups, extorting racial preferences and financial bribes from big business, and lining his pockets in a (bogus) crusade for equality. Yet the mainstream media hails him as a hero. I would love to know exactly what he has sacrificed in order to deserve that distinction.
Edgerton is everything that Jackson merely claims to be (including, but not confined to, intelligent), and the mainstream media despises him. He stands (often on his own) against the rich and powerful, decries (not only in words, but by deeds) the evil elements of our society (drug dealers, violent criminals), and confronts them face-to-face in order to weed out the seamier elements of society so that the poor might have a better chance at genuine (as opposed to politically prescribed) equality.
While glibly spouting his lies or exaggerations about racial oppression and the fight for (his bigoted brand of) equality, Jackson charges an arm and a leg for speeches, travels first class, wears designer suits, and will not disclose the financial records of his Rainbow Coalition.
On the opposite end of the courage/integrity spectrum, Edgerton is not financially benefiting from his cause (as a matter of fact, he is devoting many of his own meager resources to it), is putting his own health and financial well-being on the line, and is getting down in the trenches with the poor and disadvantaged people whose cause he has taken up.
A while ago, when Edgerton publicly saluted the statue of Robert E. Lee, he completed the winning of my heart. :) -- and I know for sure that Lee would have returned the salute.
~ joanie 