Wednesday, June 25, 2014
U.S. Senator Thad Cochran interviewed in the "Southern Partisan" how he was against the Voting Rights Act, but in recent primary has career saved by Democratic and African American voters
U.S. Senator Thad Cochran interviewed in the Southern Partisan, Vol. 15 3rd Qtr., starting on page 32.
Cochran in the interview is against the Voting Rights Act. I don't think it is a great thing that Cochran won. He is the last congressional Republican who interviewed in Southern Partisan who is still in office. If the tea party guy had won, there was a good chance that he would have lost the general election. Then there would have been two Republicans who have had dealings with the neo-Confederates.
Some highlights from the interview are:
Page 34
Southern Partisan: Well, the South continues to be singled out in respect to Federal Civil Rights legislation, for example; do you think this is still justified?
Cochran: No, I think that it is regrettable, and it ought to discontinued. When we last had the Voting Rights act before the Senate, I offered an amendment to apply the law to all states not just to those of the old Confederacy. ...
Page 34-35
Southern Partisan: You mentioned of course, that a lot of changes have taken place in the South, still some things remain; the Confederate Battle Flag for example; that is part of the state flag in Mississippi, are you comfortable with it?
Cochran: I don't think Congress ought to decide. I think it is strictly up to the state legislature of Mississippi, and if I were a member of the legislature I would vote to keep the flag as it is.
Southern Partisan: You don't see a problem with separating heritage or ---
Cochran: I think it is unfortunate that some have used it in a way that it raised questions about their views. but our state, I think, has demonstrated by our actions that it is not a racist state. We have full rights and participation in all the political processes. It's a decision the Mississippi state legislature has made, and I respect their decision.
Page 35
Southern Partisan: Do you favor stronger roles in state government?
Cochran: I think states have been mistreated in the extent that the federal government has usurped the responsibilities that many of us think are the rights of the states or are more properly vested in state government. We are seeing a transition back to, I think, some of those notions of states' rights and the Tenth Amendment, which protects the privacy of states by preventing usurpation by the federal government.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
"Daily Caller" Jordan Bloom Opinion Editor's scatological and negative opinion of my Churches of the Confederacy campaign.
This is the blog posting by Jordan Bloom at the blog
http://mitrailleuse.net/2014/06/22/secession-lagniappe-7/
He is not very happy with my campaign against churches hosting neo-Confederate groups.
He is evidently the Opinion Editor at Daily Caller (www.dailycaller.com) which as far as I can tell is a competitor with WorldNetDaily.com for the right wing hysterical fringe market. Well maybe not exactly the same degree of hysteria as World Net Daily.
http://mitrailleuse.net/author/jarthurbloom/
http://dailycaller.com/author/jordan-bloom/
What is interesting is that despite all the pretensions of intellect, being Opinion Editor, obscure blog name, etc., the person is just a foul mouth character that has no argument to be put forth and thus resorts to name calling.
Always swearing, cursing, profanity, obscenity, etc. is a failure of intellect, the failure to express your objection in real terms and it is just ranting. Also, it is ineffective in stinging anyone. It is just noise that people tune out. It really shows the mental incapacity of Bloom.
http://mitrailleuse.net/2014/06/22/secession-lagniappe-7/
He is not very happy with my campaign against churches hosting neo-Confederate groups.
He is evidently the Opinion Editor at Daily Caller (www.dailycaller.com) which as far as I can tell is a competitor with WorldNetDaily.com for the right wing hysterical fringe market. Well maybe not exactly the same degree of hysteria as World Net Daily.
http://mitrailleuse.net/author/jarthurbloom/
http://dailycaller.com/author/jordan-bloom/
What is interesting is that despite all the pretensions of intellect, being Opinion Editor, obscure blog name, etc., the person is just a foul mouth character that has no argument to be put forth and thus resorts to name calling.
Always swearing, cursing, profanity, obscenity, etc. is a failure of intellect, the failure to express your objection in real terms and it is just ranting. Also, it is ineffective in stinging anyone. It is just noise that people tune out. It really shows the mental incapacity of Bloom.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Kevin LevIn, Washington & Lee University, White Paternalism and Black Confederates
A group of minority students at Washington & Lee have asked the university to stop glorifying Robert E. Lee, ban neo-Confederate groups from campus, and generally stop being a shrine to the Confederacy.
What is interesting is that Levin's blog posting starts with pointing out that African American's have spoken at the Lee Chapel so that somehow the chapel is okay. He has links to YouTube videos of African Americans speaking in the Lee Chapel. This is the same strategy of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in parading around H.K. Edgerton to justify their agenda. It is the strategy of the neo-Confederate movement with their inventions of Confederate soldiers of African ancestry to legitimize the Confederacy.
Levin's book on Black Confederates is likely to be narrowly focused on the historical record and technical details on whether Black Confederate soldiers existed. He is unlikely to have a theoretical analysis in which the promotion of the idea that Black Confederate soldiers is put in a larger historical context of using token African Americans to justify discriminatory white racial attitudes, policies, and institutions. How can he when he engages in these same tactics himself?
On a side note one of the more amusing things is that he has a video of African American Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaking at the Lee Chapel. It doesn't occur to Levin that Thomas is just the type of African American that people would expect to speak at a Confederate shrine. There is this link to an article, "Clarence Thomas is the Last Confederate." http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/justice-clarence-thomas-050714. Or there is this article: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/19/us/about-that-flag-on-the-judge-s-desk.html.
Another thing is that Levin posts a YouTube video of Gary Gallagher speaking at the Lee Chapel where the speaker introducing him makes it clear that the Lee Chapel is about revering Lee and the chapel is a shrine to Robert E. Lee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLPb_bUjCE
African Americans who speak at the Lee Chapel or hold events there are enabling the Lost Cause interpretation of history by proving a cover for this shrine.
What is happening is that America is moving into the future where more and more white paternalism won't have a place and won't be credible and where there is an oncoming generation of African Americans who won't be deferential to white paternalists.
I think we can expect that as the Lost Cause, neo-Confederacy, and white racialized landscapes are opposed we will see more of Kevin Levin rationalizing the Lost Cause, neo-Confederates and banal white nationalistic agendas. I think we will find him more and more upset also, such as shown in his response to the head of the Virginia NAACP's comments about the Museum of the Confederacy.
http://cwmemory.com/2012/03/19/king-salim-khalfani-speaks-truth-to-power-without-the-truth/
Levin is upset because King Salim Khalfani doesn't care for the Museum of the Confederacy and Levin is going to put that upstart in his place with his blog posting. (My expose of the Museum of the Confederate is a four part series at Black Commentator. You can find the free guest links at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.)
An article on their efforts can be read at this link:
Kevin Levin has a blog posting at this link. It really is incredible to read this exposition of white paternalism.
Kevin Levin opposes the student's efforts to remove Confederate flags and have the university stop functioning as a shrine to the Confederacy.
"Instead of calling for the removal of objects from the chapel and barring certain groups from using it, these students ought to take the high road and add to the meaning and legacy of this site. Organize events for the chapel that address issues that are deemed to be important. Leave your own mark that students who follow can build on in a constructive way."Exactly why being accommodating to neo-Confederates and a Confederate shrine is the "high road" and why minority students should contribute to the meaning and legacy of a Confederate shrine and that should be considered "constructive" escapes me. What Levin is trying to do is stigmatize the student's effort as being the low road and as destructive. Levin doesn't debate the issues that the student raise, he just stigmatizes the student and denigrates their goals.
What is interesting is that Levin's blog posting starts with pointing out that African American's have spoken at the Lee Chapel so that somehow the chapel is okay. He has links to YouTube videos of African Americans speaking in the Lee Chapel. This is the same strategy of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in parading around H.K. Edgerton to justify their agenda. It is the strategy of the neo-Confederate movement with their inventions of Confederate soldiers of African ancestry to legitimize the Confederacy.
Levin's book on Black Confederates is likely to be narrowly focused on the historical record and technical details on whether Black Confederate soldiers existed. He is unlikely to have a theoretical analysis in which the promotion of the idea that Black Confederate soldiers is put in a larger historical context of using token African Americans to justify discriminatory white racial attitudes, policies, and institutions. How can he when he engages in these same tactics himself?
On a side note one of the more amusing things is that he has a video of African American Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaking at the Lee Chapel. It doesn't occur to Levin that Thomas is just the type of African American that people would expect to speak at a Confederate shrine. There is this link to an article, "Clarence Thomas is the Last Confederate." http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/justice-clarence-thomas-050714. Or there is this article: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/19/us/about-that-flag-on-the-judge-s-desk.html.
Another thing is that Levin posts a YouTube video of Gary Gallagher speaking at the Lee Chapel where the speaker introducing him makes it clear that the Lee Chapel is about revering Lee and the chapel is a shrine to Robert E. Lee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLPb_bUjCE
African Americans who speak at the Lee Chapel or hold events there are enabling the Lost Cause interpretation of history by proving a cover for this shrine.
What is happening is that America is moving into the future where more and more white paternalism won't have a place and won't be credible and where there is an oncoming generation of African Americans who won't be deferential to white paternalists.
I think we can expect that as the Lost Cause, neo-Confederacy, and white racialized landscapes are opposed we will see more of Kevin Levin rationalizing the Lost Cause, neo-Confederates and banal white nationalistic agendas. I think we will find him more and more upset also, such as shown in his response to the head of the Virginia NAACP's comments about the Museum of the Confederacy.
http://cwmemory.com/2012/03/19/king-salim-khalfani-speaks-truth-to-power-without-the-truth/
Levin is upset because King Salim Khalfani doesn't care for the Museum of the Confederacy and Levin is going to put that upstart in his place with his blog posting. (My expose of the Museum of the Confederate is a four part series at Black Commentator. You can find the free guest links at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.)
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Wrote President of the United Methodist Church about hosting neo-Confederate groups.
I wrote Rev. Rosemarie Wenner, President of the United Methodist Church (UMC) about their hosting neo-Confederates.
The letter is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/UnitedMethodistChurch.htm
I copied the other members of the Executive Committee.
I did include some bar graphs of UDC hosting and SCV hosting by Methodist denominations. There is only one bar on the graph since it seems that the other Methodist denominations: African Methodist Episcopal Church, and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Church have no record of hosting neo-Confederate groups. Perhaps there is some obscure doctrinal difference that I don't understand between these Methodist denominations and the United Methodist Church.
The letter is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/UnitedMethodistChurch.htm
I copied the other members of the Executive Committee.
I did include some bar graphs of UDC hosting and SCV hosting by Methodist denominations. There is only one bar on the graph since it seems that the other Methodist denominations: African Methodist Episcopal Church, and African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Church have no record of hosting neo-Confederate groups. Perhaps there is some obscure doctrinal difference that I don't understand between these Methodist denominations and the United Methodist Church.
Monday, June 09, 2014
Wrote to Most Rev. Schori Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and Pope Francis about their churches hosting neo-Confederate groups.
I have been updating the Churches of the Confederacy web pages which you can access at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.
I added two pages.
www.templeofdemocracy.com/Episcopalian.htm where I have the letter to Most Rev. Schori Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. I copied this letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the General Executive Council of the Episcopal Church which has something over 40 members and a couple other executive officers.
www.templeofdemocracy.com/RomanCatholic.htm where I have the letter to Pope Francis.
Other pages were updated.
I just sent them out in the last couple weeks so it is too early to expect to hear back.
It turns out that the Episcopal Church has had this big project about learning about its past involvement with slavery in the United States and a great many groups dealing with the issue of the historical past, race, and the Episcopal Church. Many statements about race are made. Yet despite all that the Episcopal Church is the leading church hosting neo-Confederate national convention services.
I don't think the general membership or most Episcopalians involved with the issues of racism in the Episcopal church are aware that their denomination is the leading denomination hosting neo-Confederate events.
I am going to write the United Methodist Church next.
Afterwards I am going to be writing all the religious groups that profess to be concerned about the issue of race in the three denominations.
I added two pages.
www.templeofdemocracy.com/Episcopalian.htm where I have the letter to Most Rev. Schori Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. I copied this letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the General Executive Council of the Episcopal Church which has something over 40 members and a couple other executive officers.
www.templeofdemocracy.com/RomanCatholic.htm where I have the letter to Pope Francis.
Other pages were updated.
I just sent them out in the last couple weeks so it is too early to expect to hear back.
It turns out that the Episcopal Church has had this big project about learning about its past involvement with slavery in the United States and a great many groups dealing with the issue of the historical past, race, and the Episcopal Church. Many statements about race are made. Yet despite all that the Episcopal Church is the leading church hosting neo-Confederate national convention services.
I don't think the general membership or most Episcopalians involved with the issues of racism in the Episcopal church are aware that their denomination is the leading denomination hosting neo-Confederate events.
I am going to write the United Methodist Church next.
Afterwards I am going to be writing all the religious groups that profess to be concerned about the issue of race in the three denominations.