Secession and conservatives, or we can't get our own way so we want our own state

Again a rural county wants their own state. The Siskiyou County Board in northern California voted 4 to 1 to secede and form a new state. You can read it here or here.

This follows some rural counties on the great plains in Colorado wanting their own state. You can read some articles here or here or here.

The complaint is that they can't get their way in legislative affairs and that their opinions aren't privileged over the opinions of other people in their state. So they want their own state.

It is not likely that they will get their way on this. The original state has to approve and Congress has to admit a new state. These rural areas have very few people and I doubt that congress is going to want to give them two senators to represent a very small group of people whose reason is that they don't have some special legislative privilege.

It seems that this secession idea for sparsely settled rural counties of a state might be spreading. If it does it poses a real risk to conservatives and Republicans.

For the conservative movement it makes them look crazy. The rest of the people in the state have participated in the elections and accepted the results and they certainly won't look favorably on secessionists who will come across as being spoiled and having a tantrum because they can't get their own way.

For Republicans it holds real risks. When a Republican pursues a statewide office the question will arise how to respond to the secessionists. If the secessionists are rejected they may not vote for the Republican candidate or vote for a third party candidate and so might some right wing individuals sympathizing with the secessionists thus helping to elect a Democrat to state wide office. If instead the Republican politician attempts to pander to the secessionists, he or she will seem silly, and against the state, and will bring the Republican party into ridicule as well as each Republican running for any office in the state who will be likely asked for their opinion on secession.

Since it would be congress that admits states, Republicans running for federal elected office could also be questioned and not just in the states with secessionists movements.

I don't think that this idea will be necessary confined to states with Democratic legislatures and somewhat isolated rural counties with very conservative populations. Perhaps there just needs to be a divide between a state majority that isn't as conservative as some rural county in that state.

Right now the media is covering this for laughs and novelty. However, the Republicans need to ask what the impact might be on the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Article on the Sons of Confederate Veterans and We Care to be published.

The article on We Care and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is done and off to Black Commentator. I wrote it in more an internet style, no footnotes and lots of links. They are on summer break. I bring up other organizations that work with the SCV and to which I plan on mailing my SCV dossier.

Update: Article is now online at:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

Virginia Columnist says the Republican Party is the party of the Confederacy

R. Matthew Poteat of the Stanton News Leader in Stanton, Virginia has a column where he argues that the Republican Party is the party of the Confederacy, the following is a link to the article. 

http://www.newsleader.com/article/20130831/OPINION02/308310005/GOP-now-Party-Confederacy?nclick_check=1

He says:

Let’s be frank. The Republican Party is the Party of the Confederacy. It should just go ahead and change its name. At least they’d be honest with themselves and the American people.

It can no longer call itself the Party of Lincoln. It left that tradition a long time ago, a process that began with FDR’s New Deal, President Truman’s integration of the military and, finally, LBJ’s support of the Civil and Voting Rights acts.

This may be a new revelation to Poteat, however, former U.S. Senator Trent Lott said that the Republican Party was the party of Jefferson Davis in the Fall 1984 Vol. 4 No. 4 issue of Southern Partisan. That was nearly 30 years ago.

A lot of leading Republicans interviewed in the Southern Partisan.

The Southern Partisan sold this T-shirt which they thought was clever.

The front side had this logo:

The back side had this: 

The one thing though is that there isn't a Republican majority anymore. The Republicans control the House of Representatives through the drawing of congressional districts, but a majority of Americans voted for Democrats in the House. Otherwise "Lincoln's worst nightmare" may well have come to pass. 

Matt Heimbach, head of the White Student Union at Maryland gets distinguished service award from the Sons of Confederate Veterans at their national convention

Dead Confederate has this blog on the whole matter here:

http://deadconfederates.com/2013/08/31/what-was-matt-heimbachs-distinguished-service-to-the-scv/

Quoting from his blog.

Matt Heimbach — founder of the White Student Union at Towson University, dabbler in Nazi ideology, and current darling of white supremacy movement — even Glenn Beck thinks he’s a rancid loon — was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal (below, right) at the SCV annual meeting in Murfreesboro last year, along with “many of our own Va Flaggers.” This is according to this announcement, apparently from the Virginia Flaggers themselves, posted on several websites:

Is the League of the South ashamed of the Confederate flag? The League of the South campaign against Hispanics. UPDATE: Southern Nationalist Network responds to this blog posting UPDATE2:

The League of the South (LOS) has started a series of protests against what it calls "Demographic Displacement." What they mean is immigration which would actually be "demographic addition." However, logic isn't a strong feature of LOS thinking.

These are some LOS links about their campaign against immigration which they are doing in partnership with the Southern Nationalist News (SNN) group.

http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/southern_demographic_displacement_demonstration.php

http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/uvalda_demonstration.php/

This is the link to the flyer for the upcoming protest.
http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/images/Tenn_demonstration_Oct_2013.jpg

The photo coverage of the Uvalda event is shown at the following link, notice you don't see any type of Confederate flag. Not the Confederate battle flag or the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd National Confederate flag.

http://southernnationalist.com/blog/2013/08/24/uvalda-vidalia-ga-southern-nationalist-demonstration/

The LOS obviously hopes to capitalize on the issue of immigration to increase their membership. It is somewhat surprising since the LOS usually doesn't protest but writes papers, holds conferences, and writes some more papers, and hold another conference.

Occasionally they have tried joining other protest events, but they would get thrown out. Conservatives in the South don't want Confederate flags associated with their movement. Now it seems the LOS also doesn't want Confederate flags associated with their movement either.

The white flag with the cross is explained here.
http://southernnationalist.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/southern-nationalist-flag.jpg

On the flag the color white is supposed to be for European heritage and black is for nationalism. So the SNN is an openly white nationalist group.

This new direction of the LOS has great opportunities to defeat neo-Confederacy with little effort on my part.

First it is unlikely they will get many members. At some point most interested persons will realize that the LOS has something to do with the Confederacy and then something to do with secession and neo-Confederacy and they will feel like they were lured in and leave. Though with the LOS's small membership any new members will probably be significant.

Second the issue of immigration has passed its crest. Conservative religious groups have shifted on the issue of immigration. They see immigrants as being a new group from which to recruit. Also, Christianity is becoming centered outside the West in the non-Western world. The LOS anti-immigrant campaign puts them at odds with evangelical Christianity in the South.

Finally, though these demonstrations will get little press, but they will be noted in the Hispanic community and they will be schooled in the meaning of the Confederacy and the Confederate flag. This will bring on board a whole new community against the Confederacy.  This is something that would take me years to accomplish, but it seems the LOS will do this for me with no effort on my part.

UPDATE:

The Southern Nationalist Network (SNN) responded to this blog post.

http://southernnationalist.com/blog/2013/08/30/ed-sebesta-the-uvalda-model/comment-page-1/

The fact is that in all the pictures that the SNN posted I don't see the Confederate battle flag or the 1st, 2nd or 3rd National Confederate flag or a flag that most people would recognize as Confederate. Most people wouldn't recognize the 1st National Confederate flag as being Confederate.

No doubt when people walked up to the protesters they realized that the SNN and LOS were neo-Confederate groups. They might have said nice things, and then thought to themselves, "smile then walk casually back to the car and leave!" The fact remains, based on viewing the photos, until people got closer they wouldn't realize that the SNN and LOS were at all connected to the Confederacy.

The SNN said they got a lot of coverage, but it seems that they just got local coverage in small town newspapers. I do hope that CNN or some other major media outlet with a significant audience does give them coverage. Unfortunately I think that given the significance of the LOS and the SNN they are not likely to get significant news coverage excepting if the media thinks it would have freak show novelty interest.

The SNN and LOS should try wearing Confederate uniforms and fly Confederate flags that are recognizable as being such by the general public. The "Bonnie" Blue flag doesn't count, the general public won't have a clue what it is. If you have any women at the event make sure they wear hoop skirts. If you are lucky enough to get a TV camera to show up, give a Rebel Yell.

Also, why can't the SNN and the LOS protest gay parades and events? There are a lot of stupid gay people in the South that swoon over "Gone With The Wind," and dote on Confederate ancestors and at social events blather defending the Confederacy. A SNN & LOS protest would help shut them up.

I think the reason the neo-Confederates haven't done any public protest of the gay movement or press releases attacking the gay movement is that they are afraid of antagonizing the gay and Lesbian movement. They might get squashed like bugs. Actually they would get squashed like bugs and the anti-gay movement in America would cringe seeing the SNN and LOS publicly attacking the gay movement.

SNN has committed to continue protesting immigration. Keep at it guys! I am sure the anti-immigration movement is cringing at the thought of you being the face of anti-immigration.

I suppose this blog posting isn't good strategy. I should have done a posting in which I was outraged, just outraged, outraged, outraged, outraged at the enormity of it. It would encourage them to do more protests. But I am laughing too hard.  Excuse me while I get some duct tape to keep my posterior from falling off.

UPDATE 2:

A more recent blog posting on this topic.
http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/09/lazy-league-of-south-gets-coverage-in.html

What are the Democrats up to with this "neo-Confederate" talk.

Recently I am starting to hear more references to factions of the Republican Party by Democrats as "neo-Confederate."

For example there is this article by Brent Budowsky in the publication, The Hill, Washington D.C. publication, referring to a civil war in the Republican Party between nationalists and neo-Confederates.

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/brent-budowsky/319465-bloody-gop-civil-war

He says:

The neo-confederates are spearheaded by GOP firebrands such as Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), former Wasilla Mayor and part-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the ubiquitous birther Donald Trump and a lengthy cast of smaller characters who increasingly resemble a political freak show more than a political party (what do you say about statewide candidates who cannot take a clear position against rape?).

Sarah Palin did speak to the Alaska Independence Party, and Rand Paul is the son of neo-Confederate Ron Paul of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, (www.mises.org). However, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump I haven't picked up any neo-Confederate connections. Perhaps Cruz has said something about nullification or interposition, and I missed it. 

Jesse Jackson recently referred to the Tea Party Republicans the resurrection of the Confederacy. 

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said in a Tuesday interview with a national news outlet that there’s no question about it — Republicans are constantly pushing the race button on all matters of policy and politics, and tea party activists are akin to redneck racist throwbacks from the Civil War era.

“The tea party is the resurrection of the Confederacy,” he said, in an interview with Politico. “It’s the Fort Sumter tea party.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/27/jesse-jackson-tea-party-resurrection-confederacy/

This is another item on Jesse Jackson's comments. 

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/356851/jesse-jackson-tea-party-resurrection-confederacy-katherine-connell

Earlier a commentator used neo-Confederate in reference to the anti-gun control movement. 

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/356283/msnbcs-reid-opposition-gun-control-neo-confederate-andrew-johnson

What does all this mean. I am not sure. Perhaps neo-Confederate has just entered the political lexicon and it is bound to be used as a derogatory comment about a political opponent. 

However, it wasn't that long ago that the Democratic Party and liberals didn't want to say anything much about neo-Confederacy or Confederate anything. There were some electoral votes and congressional districts they hoped to shake loose out of the South for upcoming elections. 

Instead, I think the Democrats are hoping that if they use the term neo-Confederate or Confederacy enough they can get the Tea Party to embrace the Confederacy, perhaps fly some Confederate flags, in reaction. 

It isn't just the last couple weeks either, this campaign attempting to identify the Republicans with the Confederacy has been going on all year. 

Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV)

The SCV has been getting involved with the JROTC by handing out their Hunley Award. They award it irrespective of race. The SCV is not stupid. They realize giving the award to minority students gives them a public image contrary to their real selves which you can read about here at Black Commentator.

The purpose of this program was explained by the SCV as follows:

The SCV seeks to be involved in the Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (JROTC). In the Nov./Dec. 2009 issue ofConfederate Veterans the SCV announces in an article that it is going to expand the awarding of the South Carolina Division SCV’s H.L. Hunley JROTC award nation wide so as to reach, as Program Chairman Trip Wilson explains, “…500,000 cadets serving in 3,500 JROTC units…” The purpose of this award is to advance the goals of the SCV as Chairman Wilson explains:

"If each year we are able to recognize 500 to 1,000 cadets nationwide and get Sons of Confederate Veterans’ compatriots into high schools presenting the awards, then there is unlimited potential the good it can do in educating our young people and changing the perception of them and their parents have of our organization." [No author, “Junior ROTC H.L. Hunley Awards Program,Confederate Veteran, Vol. 67 No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2009, pp. 52-53.]

I am not sure what my strategy will be. I can't write all the school boards, but I might write state school boards instead. I might get some civil rights groups involved. I certainly will write the military. I am may write some African American veterans organizations. I think I will just start writing and just working with events as they develop.

Slavery apologist in the Oregon Republican Party.

I came across an interesting article about Arthur G. Robinson, now Chairman of the Oregon State Republican Party selling racist books which include defenses of slavery.

The link is:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2012/9/18/115343/926/Front_Page/Slavery_wasn_t_so_bad_says_book_published_by_OR_Republican_Party_Chair

Opposition to Gun Control is called "Neo-Confederate"

On NBC opposition to gun control is called "neo-Confederate."

Here is a link to a YouTube video of the commentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZl5lYrd1uw

I am not sure why the commentator refers to a "neo-Confederate thread." There is a brief reference to the Tenth Amendment movement and gun control.

It is interesting in that the terminology is being used in regular political discourse. When I started this research over 20 years old the term was known to just a few people.  I did not invent the term, it was first used by an editor of Southern Partisan magazine.

Cato Institute warns libertarians against neo-Confederacy in really interesting video.

Kevin Levin mentioned this video on his blog. His blog does have some interesting items and I do visit it. Though I find his "Road to Reunion" attitude a negative thing as well as his ad hominem attacks on myself when he has no real argument for his position, it doesn't mean that you can't learn some really interesting items at his blog. http://cwmemory.com/blog/

This blog posting of his is about a video by the Cato Institute warning Libertarians that the Confederacy isn't a model for Libertarians or represent Libertarian values. It is fairly good going over historical information that hasn't generally reached the public. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tvKjRB7wg5k

It is worth watching for the how libertarians interpret the Civil War.

However, it seems that the video also incorporates some neo-Confederate views of the Civil War and is to some extent self-defeating. He even quotes Murray Rothbard which is truly self-defeating. If this is the anti-Neo-Confederacy of the libertarian movement their cause is already lost.

Let me suggest a shorter message to conservatives and Libertarians. If your movement embraces white supremacy in our multipolar and multiracial world you are truly lost.

As everyone should know, my effort is non-partisan and I don't do this research for the advance of any partisan cause. My website www.templeofdemocracy.com is named after a 19th century metaphor for the American republic and my goal is to defend that republic against its neo-Confederate enemies.

Yes, I am able to figure out that sometimes others use my research for partisan goals. I suggest that those who have embraced an element of neo-Confederacy give up neo-Confederacy and thus not be susceptible to partisan attacks over it.

As Kevin Levin points out and I pointed out in an earlier blog posting it is interesting that conservative leaders are having to start warning their followers and readers against neo-Confederacy. I think that though these warnings are good and necessary and a good start against neo-Confederacy entering the conservative mainstream, they are not enough to prevent neo-Confederacy entering the mainstream of conservatism. I think the conservative movement needs to have a good look at itself and how it processes the issues of race. In particular its practice of exploiting race resentments. I don't say all conservatives do this, but I do think many do and the conservatives that don't remain silent.

A conservative movement that to some extent at some level is a white racial movement will embrace the rationalizations of neo-Confederacy despite all the historical facts, despite reason, despite logic, despite common sense.

This rejection of the Confederacy is a good first step, but it isn't adequate.

As for Kevin Levin I think that his opposition to neo-Confederacy, a word which he has gone on record as not liking, is based on the fact that neo-Confederates are upsetting a historical discussion of the Civil War which regarded it as a sort of a toy soldiers game. He is largely if not entirely uninformed by critical theory in his thinking.

Again, that doesn't mean you can't learn something from his site.

Walgreens rejects the Sons of Confederate Veterans

I got an email Friday, 8/16/2013, from Walgreens telling me that they didn't knowingly have any association with the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and they sent me a screen capture showing that there was no SCV page anymore at the We Care website.

Specifically Walgreens informed me that they were going to talk to We Care because this affiliation with the SCV  didn't reflect Walgreens' values.

Mainstream America rejects neo-Confederacy.

One of the positive benefits of this project is that managers of affinity groups are going to be more careful who they sign up with.

Update:

Article on whole campaign is online at:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

In the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" column by Bud Kennedy, "Founding Faith Didn't Include a Secession Movement." Maybe Grassroots American needs to change their name to Grassroots Confederacy, Maybe Tea party 911 should change their name to Secession 911.

In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram there is a column by Bud Kennedy titled, "Founding Faith Didn't Include a Secession Movement." It is about a conference at an Arlington church in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area of which Arlington is a part.

The link is:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/08/17/5087747/founding-faith-didnt-include-founding.html

What is interesting is that Lt. General Boykin, President of the Family Research Council has pulled out because he doesn't want to be associated with the League of the South and neo-Confederacy, but two black conservative groups still wish to attend, one which calls itself the Frederick Douglass Foundation and the other which calls itself the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee.

Two Tea Party groups are involved with this.  One is www.teaparty911.com and the other is http://gawtp.com .

This is their link to the conference. Perhaps Grassroots America needs to change their name to Grassroots Confederacy.

http://gawtp.com/founding-faith-conference

This is the Tea Party 911 link to promote the Conference

http://www.teaparty911.com/info/pdf/founding-faith-conference-2013-impact-your-nation.pdf

However www.impactyournation.com which is the website for the conference just has a password entry box.

The controversy is about Pastor David Whitney who is billed on the flyer as being with the Institute on the Constitution but the web page doesn't mention that the head of the Institute on the Constitution is Michael Peroutka, a board member of the League of the South and that Whitney is a pastor of the League of the South.

The High Point Church in Arlington has cancelled the event.

Up till now the Tea Party movement made sure it wasn't associated with neo-Confederacy. However with these comments by a Texas Tea Party leader you can see that secession has made inroads. Note the comment, "I don't think [secession] would be necessary at this time," by Sharon Kay Russell in the following interview by Kennedy with Russell.

The institute is co-sponsoring the faith conference with the local Tea Parties of Texas PAC.

The PAC was formed by leaders of 10 Tea Party groups including Bob and Donna Smith of the Grapevine-based NE Tarrant Tea Party and Barry Schlech of the Burleson-based Texas Patriots Tea Party.

PAC board chairwoman Sharon Kay Russell of Rowlett said the cancellations by Boykin and other speakers are “alarming.”

“I wonder if they were pressured,” she said.

Asked about the PAC co-sponsoring an event with pro-secession leaders, she called that a rumor.

“I don’t think that [secession] would be necessary at this time,” she said.

She said secessionists “have a right to speak out.”

Of course secessionists have a right to speak out. Russell is resorting to misrepresenting the issue. The question is whether your group wants to aid this position by enabling the organization. Since she doesn't reject secession she isn't concerned with enabling secessionists.

With this event we see the Tea Party is beginning to publicly include neo-Confederates. I have always suspect that the Tea Party groups in the former Confederate states must include many who have a Lost Cause mentality towards the Confederacy.

Also, Bud Kennedy raises the issue of the patriotism of the Tea Party groups when they enable neo-Confederates.  Kennedy closes his column stating:

They all say they want to restore the nation.

They just don’t say which one.

There is political competition across the political spectrum. Groups do compete for members, funding, influence. In this competition among Tea Party groups is support of secession and the Confederacy going to be a litmus test for being truly conservative? Interposition and nullification has already been take up by conservatives, is secession far behind? Counter to this trend is that Evangelical Christianity is currently concerned to be part of the world wide Christian movement which is multiracial with whites in a minority. The High Point Church has cancelled the event.

Notice: Warren Throckmorton is also covering events and reports at http://wthrockmorton.com/2013/08/texas-church-says-secessionist-speaker-doesnt-reflect-their-values/
 that the event has been cancelled.

Mr. Throckmorton has been tracking fairly ably the Institute on the Constitution and its mainstreaming neo-Confederacy into the conservative religious world.

National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) broadcasting neo-Confederate Constitution course. Which nation is the National in NRB for, American or Confederate?

As you can see at this link:

http://nrbnetwork.tv/Pages/Primetimevideo.aspx?ItemID=335 the National Religious Broadcasters are having a Prime Time Program on the American constitution by the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC) which has an "American View" website, though really the IOTC doesn't have an American view at all, but a Confederate one.

The IOTC is run by Michael Anthony Peroutka who is a board member of the League of the South.

http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/michael_peroutka.php

The IOTC website is at:

http://www.theamericanview.com/

Knowingly promoting racism negates any moral standing the members of the NRB might have.

The details of this whole matter are ably reported on by Warren Throckmorton at:

http://wthrockmorton.com/

It is not too surprising that the NRB isn't too concerned about advancing neo-Confederacy. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell both interviewed in the Southern Partisan as well as Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association.  I once bought a book, "More Than Conquerors, Believes From All Walks of Life," by the Moody Press and in it Robert E. Lee was praised as a Christian hero even though he was a white supremacist fighting for slavery.

I think there are a lot of Christian organizations that need to realize that the Civil Rights Era has occurred, it isn't 1910 anymore.

Churches which host services by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy UPDATED

I am currently working on compiling a list of the churches that host services and events by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC.) The purpose will be to ask them not to support neo-Confederates.

I don't think the Roman Catholic Church or the Episcopal Church can claim any legitimate moral position when they aid neo-Confederates. (Note, I wanted to confirm that the Roman Catholic churches have been involved.) They don't need to be posing as moral guides when they aid neo-Confederacy.

I am not sure how this campaign will unfold. First I need to compile the list. Then there needs to be a cover article. Finally an online publisher. I think I can find an online publisher.

I might have to write up something on the United Daughters of the Confederacy also. I have an online article on the SCV already.

Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC) no longer at We Care. UPDATE: www.scv.org drops link to We Care

www.we-care.com has decided after all to dump the SCV and when they found out that Kirk Lyons' organization, SLRC was associated with them they dumped them also.

The SCV www.scv.org website still has this link on their web page.

http://scv.we-care.com/

But it goes to a "Sorry Page Not Found" web page.

So it seems that the whole thing is over, though we will be watching. The SCV page was up, then down, then up, then down.

One interesting thing was the when the SCV We Care page was back up and companies were choosing to opt in, the kids sneaker company Keds opted in. The other companies appeared to be no name companies which existed on the web.

So it looks like it is over. On to the next project.

UPDATE:

www.scv.org has dropped the link to We Care.

UPDATE2:

Article about the whole campaign is online here:
http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

"Daily Beast" article: A Democrat discovers those who support the Confederacy are hostile to Obama.

There is this article in the Daily Beast today:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/08/what-links-the-neo-confederate-virginia-flaggers-barack-obama-race.html

One of the comments in the article is:

In a region where some whites continue to celebrate the Confederacy, it’s reasonable to link high opposition to the black president and racial prejudice.

The article's author Jamelle Bouie doesn't mention the fact that Obama has sent a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 despite annual letters sent to him asking him not to. Additionally, federal government practices of supporting neo-Confederacy under the Obama administration have continued despite letters asking him not to.

Jamelle Bouie is with American Prospect, a magazine of the Democratic Party establishment, and a fellow at Nation magazine. This article wouldn't be written unless the Democratic Party has come to some conclusion about those sympathetic to the Confederacy. Short of having Obama fly a Confederate battle flag over the White House pandering to those sympathetic to the Confederacy isn't going to get Obama support in the South. I think even flying the Confederate battle flag over the White House wouldn't help Obama in the South.

So there is a lot of national antipathy to the Confederacy and the Democrats are probably going to utilize that.

Curtis Flowers, the Council of Conservative Citizens and questions about justice in the "Rolling Stones." I supplied some information to the writer.

I supplied the information about Doug Evans' attendance at the Council of Conservative Citizens, www.cofcc.org, for this article

Then why Flowers? Dianna Freelon-Foster, former mayor of Grenada, a town in Evans' judicial district, pins the blame squarely on the district attorney: "I think he's a racist white supremacist," she says. Strong words, but Evans does have a history on race. In 1991, he delivered the keynote address at a Webster County meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a neo-segregationist organization that opposes, according to its current mission statement, "all efforts to mix the races of mankind [and] to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called 'affirmative action.'" In 1992, Evans attended a CCC address delivered by Robert "Tut" Patterson, the notorious segregationist who founded the White Citizens Council to fight school desegregation. The CCC's newsletter reported Evans' attendance at both events. (Evans did not respond to Rolling Stone's request for comment for this story.)

Link to story
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/for-curtis-flowers-mississippi-is-still-burning-20130807


Print Version
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/for-curtis-flowers-mississippi-is-still-burning-20130807?print=true

Having collected the Citizen Informer back issues and having carefully indexed them, I am able to look through issues and find information when I get inquiries. It makes it all worthwhile.

"Slates'" Vault has item on Lincoln's Order No. 252 on the treatment of African American POWs by the Confederates

The link to the article with pictures of the documents is here:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/08/06/abraham_lincoln_the_president_s_general_order_to_protect_black_pows_from.html


This will of course lead to delusional ravings by neo-Confederates about supposed Afro-Confederate soldiers. (I really can't call them African AMERICAN Confederate soldiers. That would be self-contradictory.)

Notorious Kirk Lyons' organization Southern Legal Research Center supported by We-Care UPDATE, Update 2

You can see which merchants at We Care support Kirk Lyon's organization the Southern Legal Research Center at this link.

http://slrc-csa.we-care.com/Merchants

You won't see ESPN or Oscar de la Renta there since they have dropped We-Care.

You can read about Kirk Lyons at this link:  http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/kirk-lyons.

UPDATE:

I did search for groups with the search terms "klan," "nazi," and some other terms and nothing so far has turned up. Of course I don't know if there is some type of back door entrance for other groups. They maybe they can log in at a different web portal.

There other companies appear to have dropped We Care, Barney's of New York, Converse (a subsidiary of Nike), and Godiva Chocolatiers.

UPDATE 2:

We Care dropped the SCV and the Southern Legal Research Center. 

www.we-care.com appears to have dropped the Sons of Confederate Veterans UPDATE1 UPDATE 2

SEE IMPORTANT UPDATE BELOW

It appears that www.we-care.com has dropped the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) entirely.

If you go to http://scv.we-care.com/Merchants you will find the SCV page but no merchants.

I had mailed a letter which included a link to the Black Commentator article about SCV along with a hard copy of the article. The following is the link to the article:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

I was preparing for a struggle. I was lining up protesters, media contacts, etc. However, it is over. Corporate America is no longer supporting the SCV.

It appears that the SCV is unaware of what has happened or don't want to acknowledge it or just not sure how to respond yet.

Now that corporate America is not longer supporting neo-Confederacy maybe President Obama will have the Federal government stop supporting neo-Confederacy.

Then there are the churches that support neo-Confederacy.

For those of you who want to know who supported the SCV through www.we-care.com there is this earlier posting.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/07/plan-to-write-corporations-who-sponsor.html

UPDATE1:

It seems that ESPN and Oscar de la Renta have dropped We Care, but We Care hasn't dropped the SCV. There are now two merchants which are back on their website.

UPDATE2:

We care has dropped the SCV and the SCV no longer has a link to We Care. www.scv.org

FINAL UPDATE;

Entire campaign reported at http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

President General explains purpose of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to preserve the privileges of the "pure Anglo-Saxon race."

The bibliographic note for this is, Mrs. Roy W. McKinney, President General of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), "From the President General," Confederate Veteran, Vol. 28 No. 1, Jan. 1920, page 32. UDC members did not generally until late in the 20th century use their own names, but instead used their husband's names.

The UDC has the slogan, "Live, Love, Think, Pray, Dare." This is the Live section of her message.

Live to brighten the declining years of the men who wore the gray; live to educate their posterity and thereby fasten more securely the rights and privileges of citizenship upon a pure Anglo-Saxon race; live to to hand down to generations to come a truthful history of these men and of the times in which they live.

Confederate heritage as defined by the UDC.

To read about UDC opposition to civil right in the 1950s go to www.confederatepastpresent.org.

Hysterically homophobic Police Chief wears a shirt with the Confederate flag UPDATE:

This is from Warren Throckmorton's blog.

http://wthrockmorton.com/2013/07/institute-on-the-constitution-supports-controversial-pa-police-chiefs-actions-to-nullify-gun-control-legislation/

There is a link to this video. Notice the hysterically homophobic police chief's Confederate flag on his shirt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Rc8L7ltFw

I don't know how he thinks he is patriotic having a Confederate battle flag on his t-shirt. It is the flag of those who shot at American soldiers to destroy the American Republic in an attempt to create a white supremacist slave Republic.  It seems he is just a fountain of profanity and has little cerebral capacity. He also seems to have sexual preoccupations.

Here is another of his videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQakPtOQCJo

It is however gratifying to have him associated with the Confederate flag. He is hysterical and raging, but I don't think neo-Confederates will reject him or criticize him. I think Mark Kessler represents the meaning of the Confederate flag and his raging videos will educate people as to what it means.

UPDATE:

Seems that Mark Kessler is getting fired. The mayor of Gilberton it is reported still supports him.

http://gawker.com/fuck-all-you-libtards-pennsylvania-police-chief-anno-893666426/1352430579@cordjefferson

BC

This posting is to have the all the free guest links to my essays published on Black Commentator.

The order is from the newest to the oldest.

The following is an article giving the history of using the Black Commentator article on the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) to get the We Care corporate donation program shutdown.

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

The following is a dossier on the racism and extremism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

The following is a proposal to screen out those who are neo-Confederates, who identify with the Confederacy, who are sympathetic to the Confederacy from being jurors especially when the defendant is a minority member.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/507/507_confederacy_jury_selection_sebesta_hague_guests_share.html

The following is a lengthy expose of the Museum of the Confederacy and it demonstrates that it really is a Museum for the Confederacy and not a Museum about the Confederacy.

1st installment:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/441/441_museum_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

2nd installment:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/443/443_museum_confederacy_2_sebesta_guest_share.html

3rd installment:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/461/461_museum_confederacy_3_sebesta_guest_share.html

4th installment:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/462/462_museum_confederacy_4_sebesta_guest_share.html

"The American View" or "The Confederate View," Institute on the Constitution participates in rally held by the Maryland League of the Souht

"The American View" is the web page of the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC). One of the events that the IOTC had was a rally with the Maryland League of the South.

The announcement is here:

http://www.theamericanview.com/pastor-david-whitney-to-speak-at-federalsburg-maryland-rally/

What is interesting is that Maryland State Senator Richard Colburn was announced as participating.

It seems to be have been an anti-gay marriage rally.

Most interesting was that it was held at a VFW post 4256. I thought that the Veterans of Foreign Wars was a patriotic organization and wouldn't host an organization dedicated to breaking up the United States and which honors those who historically attempted to do so.

The head of the IOTC, Michael Anthony Peroutka spoke at the 2012 League of the South conference.

http://www.theamericanview.com/michael-anthony-peroutka-to-speak-at-league-of-the-souths-national-conference/

What is concerning about this organization is that it seems to be connecting into the conservative movement.

William Throckmorton has been doing a good job on tracking the IOTC and its neo-Confederate agenda and its activities.

http://wthrockmorton.com/

Mailed 39 Certified letters to Corporations which offer to donate to the Sons of Confederate Veterans

I mailed out 39 certified letters today to Corporations which offer to donate to the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).  These are corporations with American addresses. I will be mailing 4 or 5 more letters to foreign addresses by Saturday.

Along with the cover letter I sent each company a printout of the article about the SCV published by Black Commentator online.

The links to the cover letter, the companies being written to, along with the link to the Black Commentator article are at this blog.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/07/plan-to-write-corporations-who-sponsor.html

The link to the Black Commentator article:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

Update:

Campaign a complete success. Article on it here:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

Texas U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman working with Institute of the Constitution run by League of the South board member Michael Peroutka

The details of this collaboration is at this link:

http://wthrockmorton.com/2013/07/tx-rep-steve-stockman-joins-with-league-of-the-south-board-member-on-amicus-brief/

I don't know Warren Throckmorton and I haven't checked all the details. However Peroutka is involved in the neo-Confederate movemeent.

Throckmorton refers to this URL:

http://www.theamericanview.com/institute-on-the-constitution-in-the-united-states-supreme-court/

It says that the Gun Owners of America (GOA) is also involved. The GOA had a series of full page ads in the neo-Confederate publication Southern Mercury.

Maybe the Institution on the Constitution is the gateway of neo-Confederacy into the conservative movement.

John Barr reviews, "The Fall of the House of Dixie," by Bruce Levine for "Civil War Book Review"

Professor John Barr's book review of "The Fall of the House of Dixie," by Bruce Levine for Civil War Book Review is online at:

http://www.cwbr.com/index.php?q=5491&field=ID&browse=yes&record=full&searching=yes&Submit=Search

An extract from the review:

Levine’s account begins by delineating the characteristics of the House of Dixie, one of magnificent wealth, political power, and social influence, all based upon cruelly exploiting the labor of millions of enslaved African Americas. His description of the antebellum South is especially clear that, at least from the perspective of those who owned other human beings, “slaveholding was not simply an economic necessity,” but also “the unique basis of the particular outlook, assumptions, norms, habits, and relationships to which masters as a social class had become deeply and reflexively attached. It defined their privileges and shaped their culture, their religion, and even their personalities.” The first two chapters disprove the all too prevalent claims of those in American culture who hold that slavery was not, as Abraham Lincoln said in 1865, “somehow, the cause of the war.” American slaveholders were so devoted their peculiarly profitable institution and its associated status that they chose to fight to preserve it once Lincoln and the anti-slavery Republican Party won the 1860 presidential election. In establishing the dominant power of the white master class, indeed of all whites, over the relative societal weakness of blacks, slave or free, in the antebellum South, and how the fighting overturned this social order, Levine assists the reader in understanding more clearly the revolutionary nature of the American Civil War.

John Barr is the author of a soon to be published book by LSU Press, "Loathing Lincoln: An American Tradition from the Civil War to the Present," which covers the history of Lincoln hater's in America.(Spring 2014.)

Lincoln Memorial Vandalized: Investigation Underway UPDATE: Paint is on the statue Update: Security cameras did catch the person doing the vandalism and policy are seeking person of interest.Update 3: www.lewrockwell.com sympathetic to vandalism Update: 4 More clues as to what happened. Final Update

These are the online articles:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57595627/lincoln-memorial-vandalized/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/green-paint-splattered-lincoln-memorial-19779233

Someone overnight splattered green paint on the Lincoln Memorial. No symbols or writing is evident in the green paint.

One report says the paint is on the floor near the memorial, another says some paint is on the statue as well as the floor.

The Lincoln Memorial has been closed off to the public. Clean up is underway. Surveillance cameras videos are being reviewed to see who did this.

At this time it is unknown who did this and why. I will be doing updates as information comes in.

At this time it the person doing it might be some lone crazy who thinks Lincoln is from Mars  because he or she stopped taking their medicines. However, with Lincoln being compared to Hitler by the Sons of Confederate Veterans ( See http://www.sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2013/07/lincoln-more-like-hitler.html) suspicion is naturally directed to someone influenced by the neo-Confederates.

However, we have to wait, it could just be someone drunk and thinking this was "funny" or it might even be some leftist person. I would think a neo-Confederate would use red paint and not green paint. When people do vandalism to make a statement I would think everything would be very symbolic and the color would be very important.

So I am thinking that it is not likely a neo-Confederate, I don't see it as something they would do. I track the neo-Confederates, and it doesn't seem consistent with their behavior.  It might be someone in some other movement influenced by neo-Confederate thought but a member of some skinhead group or neo-Nazi group.

With the absence of facts a person can speculate, but at this point who and why is simply not known.

UPDATE:

The statue was vandalized.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Vandalism-Discovered-at-Lincoln-Memorial-217075581.html

There is a video showing the vandalism. It happened sometime before 1:30 am last night. It was reported to police by some visitors to the Memorial.

UPDATE 2:

The security camera's did catch whoever did this and the police are seeking a person of interest. The monument has been reopened.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/26/19703353-lincoln-memorial-paint-vandal-caught-on-video-police-seek-person-of-interest-sources-say

The story doesn't say really how much they know about whoever did it.

UPDATE 3: www.lewrockwell.com

Read these www.lewrockwell.com blog postings:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/re-the-horror-temple-of-jupiter-defiled/

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/the-horror-temple-of-jupiter-defiled-2/

They are mocking those who are appalled by the vandalism and accusing Lincoln of genocide.

UPDATE 4:

The paint was splattered using a Mountain Dew bottle according to a report in the Washington Post. The report is that there was both white and green paint involved. Also, a shoe print left in the white paint.

Hopefully there is some sort of evidence in the Mountain Dew bottles of DNA or finger prints.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/after-vandalism-at-lincoln-memorial-cleaning-and-questions/2013/07/27/5dcc4b1e-f6d7-11e2-a2f1-a7acf9bd5d3a_story.html

A shoe print in white paint offers the opportunity to match up a shoe with white paint.

Final Update:

It seems it is as I originally thought was likely the case, a person with problems.

"Black Commentator" publishes article on the racism and extremism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans

Black Commentator has published my article on the racism and extremism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). This article isn't only about racism. In the article there are the SCV denunciations of the Pledge of Allegiance as some type of socialist conspiracy, SCV articles asserting that the Republican party was and is involved in some type of communist conspiracy, comparisons of Lincoln to Hilter.

The prejudices against Muslims, gays and Lesbians (gays they call sodomites) are documented. Also, their promotion of books that defend or justify Antebellum slavery are mentioned. Also mentioned is their promotion of books that glorify the Ku Klux Klan.

Coming up what will be most interesting will be the denials of the SCV. I am sure one excuse or another will be given. Or maybe they won't. This article comparing Lincoln to Hitler was just published in the SCV blog yesterday (7/24/2013), maybe they aren't going to deny what they really believe.

http://www.sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2013/07/lincoln-more-like-hitler.html

The link to the Black Commentator article is:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

Let people know about this article.

The SCV may have what it calls "Message Discipline" but I think that now with this article people will know what type of organization they really are.

Also, this is the article which I will be mailing to corporations which donate to the SCV.

There was just recently an attack on gays and Lesbians in the Chaplain Corps Chronicles of the Sons of Confederate Veterans after the article was sent in to Black Commentator for publication. (Search for the term sodomy). http://www.scv.org/pdf/chaplains/ChaplainsChronicleJul13.pdf

UPDATE:

The article was used in a campaign against corporate donations to the SCV through the We Care website. It was a complete success. You can read about it at the following link:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

Article in "The Atlantic," "Rand Paul's Aide: A Dunce on the Confederacy"

The article is online and at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/rand-pauls-aide-a-dunce-on-the-confederacy/277701/

About how neo-Confederate Libertarian ideas are damaging to Libertarianism.

A lot of critical analysis of the arguments of neo-Confederates that would be useful to people who aren't Libertarians.

Jack Hunter resigns from his position as U.S. Senator Rand Paul staffer

Jack Hunter, AKA Southern Avenger, has resigned his position as a staffer for U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

This story is about some commentaries that Hunter was selling and were available on a CD. Several are put online.

http://freebeacon.com/the-confederacy-loses-again/


This story is about how Hunter's former editor for the Charleston City Paper isn't buying Hunter's claim that he left Paul's staff on his own to clear his name and not because Paul told him to go.

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/22/rand_pauls_white_supremacy_double_game/

Sidney Blumenthal reviews "Copperhead" a movie by neo-Confederate Ron Maxwell

You can read Blumenthal's review at this link:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/romanticizing-the-villains-of-the-civil-war/277969/

Ron Maxwell and the stars of his movie, "Gods and Generals," interviewed in Southern Partisan.

Ron Maxwell also wrote an article for Chronicles magazine where he claimed that Hispanic immigration might result in a new civil war.

I am glad the press is seeing that his movies are little more than neo-Confederate propaganda.

Project to write corporations who donate to the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) now underway, dossier on the SCV scheduled to be published this week. UPDATE: Published UPDATE2: SCV dumped.

My dossier on the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is scheduled to be published on July 25th this coming week. I will have a blog on it with the guest pass URL for readers. There might possibly be a delay of a week in publishing, but currently that is the schedule.

Next weekend I am writing 46 corporations and individuals asking them to stop supporting the SCV with donations. I have already gotten names, addresses, and assembled the mailing materials. Each CEO will get a copy of the article scheduled to be published.

You can read about how corporations donate money to the SCV at a previous blog posting.
http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/06/corporations-that-offer-to-give.html

The draft of the letter that is being sent to them is at this blog posting:

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/06/letter-to-ceos-of-corporations-that.html

The article that is going to be mailed to them has been published:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

For some reason Taio Cruz's song "Dynamite" with its line "I am wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands," is running through my head after typing this list. I wonder if Mr. Cruz and his fans would consider the Confederacy one of their favorite, "brands, brands, brands, brands." I doubt it. In fact a lot of brands probably don't want to be associated with the Confederacy in the public mind.

UPDATE 2: www.we-care.com has dumped the SCV. Technically the page is still up, but there are no companies listed. Total victory.

The companies are:

Adidas
Aeropostale
Alamo Rent A Car (They advertised in the Confederate Veteran)
Anthropologie
Apple Store
AT&T Wireless
Banana Republic
Barneys New York
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bloomingdale's
Converse
DKNY
ESPNShop.com
Footlocker
Fossil
Ghiradelli Chocolate
Giorgio Armani Beauty
Godiva Chocolatier
Guess
Jessica Simpson
Jos. A. Bank
Lancome Paris
Lee
Lindt Chocolate
Macy's
NASCAR Superstore
Nautica
NFL
Nordstroms
Old Navy
Oscar de la Renta
Ralph Lauren
Saks Fifth Avenue
Sesame Street
Sports Authority
Starbucks
Theory
True Religion Apparel
Urban Outfitters
Vichy Laboratories
Walgreens
Wedgwood Waterford PLC
Wrangler
Yves Saint Laurent

Major article in the "Atlantic" about federal government support for neo-Confederacy, including mention of the Arlington Confederate Monument, Ed Sebesta quoted several times.

I am going to updated this blog tonight, but you can read the article online here: 

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/you-wont-believe-what-the-government-spends-on-confederate-graves/277931

Some extracts:

The desire for more Confederate memorialization at the turn of the century came not only from a sense of respect for history, heritage, or states' rights, but amid a torrent of racism and racial suppression. Celebrations of Jefferson Davis' 100th birthday in 1908 were held without restraint. The novel, The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan, became a runaway hit when it was published in 1905; a theatrical adaptation successfully toured the South and was even staged in Washington, D.C. (Most of us have heard of the story of that novel and play because of the screen adaptation, D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation). And Confederate heritage groups like the UDC began erecting monuments and memorials that recalled a righteous cause.

I am quoted:

 "Every time the federal government gives them a headstone, it's an opportunity to hold an event, and a gathering" for these groups to engage in Confederate nostalgia, Ed Sebesta, co-editor of Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. While not all, or even perhaps most, members of the SCV and UDC hold racist views, Sebesta says that at the leadership level, they've recently become much more open about their views of Confederate history and the values it represented. These include leaders -- sometimes in official SCV and UDC publications -- defending racist government policies of the past, or decrying the civil rights changes of the past 60 years.

For example, the December 2012 issue of UDC Magazine had an article defending the Black Codes. A 2003 article in the official publication of the SCV's Educational Political Action Committee, in Sebesta's words, "explains why segregation is justified." A 2006 article in Southern Mercury decried the judicial and legislative milestones of the Civil Rights Movement, asserting that in the 1960s, "The cultural Marxists relentlessly hammered away at Western cultural norms using the sledge of anti-racism as a battering ram to bring down the walls of traditional Western culture."

I have much of the racism of the neo-Confederates in the early and mid-20th century documented at the website www.confederatepastpresent.org.

You can read articles in which Confederate "heritage" groups praise the Ku Klux Klan at these links:

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=161:extracts-from-the-book-qthe-ku-klux-klan-or-invisible-empireq-by-mrs-sef-rose-and-endorsed-by-the-sons-of-confederate-veterans-and-the-united-daughers-of-the-confederacy-&catid=37:the-nadir-of-race-relations&back=yes

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=162:the-united-daughters-of-the-confederacy-defends-the-ku-klux-klan-in-1936&catid=37:the-nadir-of-race-relations&back=yes

There are many more articles praising the Klan at www.confederatepastpresent.org. Use the search engine at the site.

If you want to know more about the Arlington Confederate Monument and the effort to get the president to stop sending a wreath to the monument go to this blog:

http://arlingtonconfederatemonument.blogspot.com/

This blog also had some documentation of the 21st century racism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

William Lee Miller, a great scholar at the Univ. of Virginia died.

I just learned that William Lee Miller died on May 27, 2012. His book, "Arguing About Slavery," was an inspiration to me and is one of my favorite books. I am sadden to learn of it.

The link to the New York Times obituary is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/william-lee-miller-lincoln-scholar-dies-at-86.html?_r=1&

Buy his book "Arguing About Slavery." It is a good read.

Professor Miller made the connection almost cinematically vivid in “Arguing About Slavery” when he recounted how Adams died in February 1848 after collapsing on the floor of the House: 

“It is altogether fitting and proper, for the purposes of the inner history and collective memory of the American people,” Professor Miller wrote, “that on the day that Adams fell there was seated, in a not very good seat in the back row of the House chamber, a Whig congressman from Illinois serving his first and only term.” 

Jack Hunter had earlier asked his former "City Paper" editor to delete his columns. Editor refused. He calls Jack Hunter common type of racist, one who doesn't realize he is one.

This story is here:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/07/rand-pauls-neo-confederate-aide-asked-his-editor-delete-columns/67344/

The editor says that he basically published Jack Hunter for amusement.

Haire says that while Hunter never said racial slurs or joined a lynching, "it was my opinion then and it is my opinion now that Jack is the most common kind of racist, the one that doesn’t realize that he is one." Which raises an interesting question, as The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein notes: If Hunter was such a racist, why did Haire publish him? In a way, Haire supports Hunter's own defense—that he was only saying this stuff because it sells. "The role of a radio host is different from that of a political operative. In radio, sometimes you’re encouraged to be provocative and inflammatory," Hunter said in a blog post. That apparently worked for the City Paper, too. Keep that in mind when you read about how the South has changed.

Some time ago I had suggested in a blog that Jack Hunter was being published for amusement by the City Paper. 

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2008/02/neo-confederate-ranter-columnist-for.html#.UekX2I2siSo

This got Jack Hunter quite upset and he denounced me in a YouTube video, which has been deleted, but he refers to it in his blog.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/SouthernAvenger/archives/2008/02/27/neo-confederate-hunter-sebesta-responds-to-sa--with-even-more-elitism

It seems I was right all along as to why City Paper included Jack Hunter. 

There is also this story at the City Paper is by his former editor and about Jack Hunter pointing out that his claims of youthful indiscretions doesn't hold up. 

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/HaireoftheDog/archives/2013/07/18/former-editor-of-rand-pauls-neo-confederate-staffer-talks-about-the-southern-avenger

Now U.S. Senator Rand Paul and Jack Hunter are trying to represent Jack Hunter's Southern Avenger days as the efforts of a "shock jock" professional, which would validate exactly what I claimed then it was. He was being published for amusement.

I think the truth is that Jack Hunter believes then and now the same things and did take himself seriously. The editor didn't take him seriously and published him as a freak show to sell papers. When I pointed this out Jack Hunter was quite upset and I was supposed to be the bad guy for even thinking that. However, it turns out I was right all along.

Sons of Confederate Veterans Commander-in-Chief R. Michael Givens on the "darkness and indolence" of Asian culture

R. Micheal Givens, Commander-in-Chief, (C-i-C) of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is wrote on the battle of Thermopylae and the defeat of the Persians in the July/Aug 2013 issue of the Confederate Veteran, pages 4,5,26. The Battle of Thermopylae was a legendary battle in history and kept European Greece free of the Persian Empire. Ionian Greece was part of the Persian Empire.

I am glad of the defeat of the Persians and the victory of the Greeks since it did allow the Athenian and other democracies to survive. The successes and the notable failures of Greek democracy figured in the thinking which created our modern democracies. I like Greek Civilization, and when I was an undergraduate I was a double major in engineering and ancient history. There was not charge for an additional class since I was a full time student and I graduated with 5 1/2 years of credits in 4 years of school.

However, I rather doubt that the slaves in Greece or Persia cared much who won. It would be interesting to know what the Helots thought of the Spartan victory. It wasn't until the Spartans were later defeated that the Helots became free Greeks again.

However, what is interesting is the following comment on page 5 by Givens:

All this advancement may have never evolved had Greece become a Persian satrapy, and been assimilated into the darkness and indolence which was Asian, 2,492 years ago. 

Givens is talking about 480 BCE.

A lot is happening in Asia at that time. For starters Judaism is developing and will become Christianity. Buddhism is starting in the 5th Century BCE. Confucius is writing in the 6th and 4th Century BCE. Asian civilization is developing.

I don't know what the "darkness" and "indolence" Givens is talking about. It is this type of writing that tends to give interest in Classical history, the period of the Greeks and Romans a bad reputation. That is that an interest and appreciation of civilizations in the past of which lead to the development of modern Western civilization is about asserting superiority over others and assuming superiority for ones self. You can appreciate the accomplishments of a civilization without running down another. However, since the SCV glorifies the white supremacist Confederacy, they very likely have a world history view which supports white supremacy.

It shows Givens historical sense is ethnocentric and ill informed at best, but it is likely part of a larger racist view of world history. It is like something out of the 19th century where history is employed to justify colonial domination. It is also an example of the mentality of the SCV and Ben C. Sewell III who as an editor of the Confederate Veteran didn't point this out.

Yukio Mishima and the League of the South

The League of the South in one of their usual anti-immigration postings in keeping with their general hysteria over Latino immigration into the United States quotes Yukio Mishima.

http://www.lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2013/07/quote-of-day_16.html

Again, I only blog on the League of the South because this is amusing, but I don't want to create the impression that they are that significant in the neo-Confederate movement. They were at one time, but now they are just a remnant.

As anyone who is familiar with literature, and in particular gay literature, knows Yukio Mishima was a gay Japanese writer. I never read, "Confessions of a Mask," but in the 1970s it was one of the roughly dozen gay novels your other gay friends told you about and you read since there was only roughly a dozen gay novels to be read. However, I have never read it, in 1979 a flood of new literature was being published and you had choices and suddenly you didn't have time to read everything.

The other day I was reading online or in a magazine Thomas Fleming, head of the Rockford Institute, leading neo-Confederate, commenting favorably on Cavafy, the Alexandrian Greek poet. I was somewhat repulsed by it and thought "keep away from Cavafy Fleming!". I would have thought his hysterical homophobia would have precluded his ever saying anything favorable about Cavafy. Perhaps Thomas Fleming doesn't really know about Cavafy and this blog posting will inform him and he will reject Cavafy. I doubt it though. Fleming is literate and I think he already knows, but perhaps he doesn't, then again I think Fleming probably just critically processes Cavafy and uses what he likes in Cavafy's writing and discards the rest.

However, for the great mass of neo-Confederates their reaction will be more reflexive and they won't want to even mention Cavafy and Mishima under any circumstances. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Chaplain Corps will certainly not quote either one now. Let me mention Jean Cocteau here so he doesn't get quoted by neo-Confederates, as well for the same reasons Andre Gide and E.M. Forester.If I think of other writers to mention here I will do an update.

Oh by the way, neo-Confederates, your anti-Lincoln writer Gore Vidal wrote "The City and the Pillar." Look it up.

Upcoming movie, "12 Years a Slave," review and trailer at "Slate"

There is a new movie coming out, "12 Years a Slave." The link to the review and a trailer is at this link:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/07/15/_12_years_a_slave_trailer_steve_mcqueen_and_brad_pitt_have_made_a_different.html

From the blog posting at Slate:

The film tells the story of Solomon Northup, who was born a free man in the North,worked as a carpenter and violinist to support his wife and three children, and was kidnapped and sold into chains in Louisiana. He was eventually able to get word of his illegal enslavement up to his family, and when he was free again he wrote a bestselling slave narrative about his experience, called 12 Years a Slave.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul on Lincoln , is the GOP the party of Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?

U.S. Senator Rand Paul has shared his thoughts on Lincoln in response to the Jack Hunter controversy.

It is reported in this article online:

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/11/rand_paul_completely_mangles_lincoln/


Trent Lott explained to an interviewer for the Southern Partisan how the Republican Party was now the party of Jefferson Davis.

Is neo-Confederacy like a rising dampness, penetrating the conservative movement? Or is it an ideology that occasionally shows up in the conservative movement, but for which there is no general trend of neo-Confederacy being adopted by the conservative movement.

It might be that either scenario is a  current possibility and the conservative movement, if it wishes not to be neo-Confederate needs to take strong measures to prevent that from happening.

Sons of Confederate Veterans hysterically upset over gay rights

See this blog posting. Read their newsletter.

http://neo-confederatehomophobia.blogspot.com/2013/07/sons-of-confederate-veterans.html

Raging, delusional, frothing at the mouth.

"I was racist 15 minutes ago, but not now." The excuses of neo-Confederates

Jack Hunter is now alleging that he isn't the neo-Confederate of his Southern Avenger days. It is reported U.S. Senator Rand Paul is not going to terminate him.

Some articles on this are:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/07/09/why_rand_paul_won_t_get_rid_of_his_neo_confederate_co_author.html

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/11/rand-paul-defends-incredibly-talented-aide-despite-neo-confederate-ties/

This is what neo-Confederates do when discovered, they explain that they are no longer the same person. When Southern Partisan was in the news about their attacks on Martin Luther King they said that was their early years but they had changed. What had changed is that Martin Luther King birthday legislation was no longer in the news so it wasn't something they would report on.

Everyone does change over time and there is no way to read minds and see what people believe. So it is a very good rebuttal for neo-Confederates when their neo-Confederate past is discovered, "I was racist 15 minutes ago, but not now."

As some neo-Confederates find careers they find their documented neo-Confederate pasts liabilities, so they discover that they have changed.

However, I would ask Jack Hunter about what changed his mind about his neo-Confederate beliefs. What changed his mind about Lincoln or the Confederacy? Probably the only thing you would find is that he found his beliefs career limiting.

Warren Throckmorton has an article about Institute on the Constitution course offering on the Constitution canceled by school board

The Institution on the Constitution (IOTC) founder Michael Peroutka is involved with the neo-Confederate movement and the League of the South. The IOTC was going to offer a course on the Constitution with a local school, but people found out what the real agenda was and it was cancelled.

It is reported here on the web page of Warren Throckmorton.

http://wthrockmorton.com/2013/07/institute-on-the-constitution-founder-michael-peroutka-on-southern-secession-and-his-course-on-the-constitution/#comments

If you go to wthrockmorton.com you can see all his posts on the topic.

Besides learning that the course was cancelled, there is something else that is good about this report. Conservative Christians are rejecting neo-Confederacy. I don't think it necessarily means they reject the Lost Cause, but it does mean that they are learning what the neo-Confederate ideology is and rejecting it and realizing that it is something that is attempting to find a place in their movement.

I think upon reflecting on neo-Confederacy a person is likely to in time reject the Lost Cause.

NOTE: People should always understand that my anti-neo-Confederate efforts are non-partisan regarding other issues. It is my goal to reach out to all segments of society to oppose neo-Confederacy on the basis of a common support for American democratic values as embodied in the American republic. Hence the name of my website site www.templeofdemocracy.com.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul employs neo-Confederate Jack Hunter as his media director

For a while there the Republican Party leaders weren't associating with neo-Confederates. After Trent Lott's involvement with the Council of Conservative Citizens came to light and it turned out that much of the Republican Party leadership had interviewed in Southern Partisan magazine, the Republicans largely avoided the neo-Confederates.

However, it seems that U.S. Senator Rand Paul employs neo-Confederate Jack Hunter as his media director.

It is all over in the media.

The story first appeared in the conservative Washington Free Beacon and you can read the story at this link:

http://freebeacon.com/rebel-yell/

It is reported on in the media at these links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/07/09/rand-paul-aide-has-history-of-racial-comments/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/07/09/rand-paul-staffer-southern-avenger/2502637/

Jack Hunter, aka Southern Avenger, comments about John Wilkes Booth and the assassination of Lincoln have gotten considerable commentary.

More amusing is this article, "Rand Paul can't understand why black voters don't vote GOP, here is a clue."

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/09/rand-paul-cant-understand-why-black-voters-dont-vote-gop-heres-a-clue/

The article points out that the GOP and Rand Paul is not going to seem a very appealing choice when they are involved with neo-Confederate racists like Jack Hunter.

Like most neo-Confederates who are caught out, Hunter talks about how his views have changed. When these things come to light we get some excuse like, "Well that was 15 minutes ago, my views have changed."

The good thing about this, besides the fact that Rand Paul will likely dump Jack Hunter, is that all the other Republicans will be making sure they aren't hiring neo-Confederates or end up some how associated with neo-Confederates.

What may be acceptable in South Carolina may not be so acceptable in the rest of the country.

Another good thing is that an arrogant rodent is going to get his.

The Civil War and Gay freedom in New York City; Gays 1 Neo-Confederates 0.

I was recently in New York City and on all days I might have been there, I was there on the weekend of the Gay Freedom Day parade.

I of course went to the Stonewall Inn and what is now Stonewall Plaza, a small park. New York City has some streets at odd angles and it leaves little triangular wedges of land which are made into parks. 

Stonewall Inn for those of you who don't know, is the location of the beginning of the riot which sparked the modern gay liberation movement. Fortunately the name doesn't seem to have any relation to the name Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.  The police raided the place and the patrons decided not to take abuse and local gay crowds gathered and there was a riot, then protests and then a movement. The rest is history. 

The original patrons were marginal people in then gay society, drag queens, prostitutes, minority gay members. They weren't marginal in rebelling though. 

The original bar closed shortly after the riots, but now it has been reopened as a bar and historic landmark and gay tourist attraction and hundreds of thousands of middle class gay tourists go there. I had a Corona beer there. It made no sense in a way, because there was nothing of the original there. But still, remembering Karla Jay and Allen Young's book, "Out of the Closets and Into the Streets," I went. Reliving my youth in a way I suppose. CLICK ON PICTURES TO MAKE THEM LARGER. 

And then I went to the park and took this picture of these sculptures.

Then wouldn't you know it, I saw a statue of a Civil War American general Philip Sheridan. I was so pleased to see a statue of an American Civil War hero so I took a picture of him also.

As Madonna would say, "strike a pose" 

Philip Sheridan helped force Robert E. Lee into defeat at Appomattox. 

Doing his part to preserve the United States of America he insured American victory over the Confederates and the destruction of slavery. He helped keep the American story of expanding freedom going. Was he all good, I suppose not. 

He was however a part of the parade of American history and freedom which has led to the successes of the modern gay rights movement and the grinding of neo-Confederate teeth. 

Of course in visiting New York I drove through the Lincoln tunnel on the way to the Gay Pride Parade. 

The Chaplain's Corps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) may go on and on about R.L. Dabney, James Henley Thornwell, Benjamin M. Palmer, and others, but it is the raging of the increasingly irrelevant for an archaic past where they type could dominate and bully others.