The RAnts of RA

There comes a point where you have to say wait a big, fat minute.  Have we all forgotten history? I love this Facebook post by  Leonard J. Siebert.

“Interesting take on the Confederate flag but first we need to address your headline claim of ignorance and racism.

In 1860, northern and western electoral votes (shown in red) put Lincoln into the White House.

The United States began its first Civil War on April 12th 1861, by all historic and documented accounts; Abraham Lincoln issued the ‘presidential order’, the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. So your premise that the Civil War was started over slavery, is not supported by the chronological timeline.

When we address cause and effect attempting to pigeon hole a cause can cause erroneous conclusions. Why in your article you claim ‘slavery’ as the cause of the Civil War, the actual historic cause is cited as the secession by seven states in the south, whose economies were all based on cotton. While I cannot deny that there were slaves in those states and slavery in any form is wrong; we need to know what caused the secession of these states as that has been cited as the cause of the Civil war.

Abraham Lincoln with Allan Pinkerton and Major General John Alexander McClernand at the Battle of Antietam.

Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election without being on the ballot in ten of the southern states. His victory triggered declarations of secession by those states.

In general Economic and social differences between the North and the South is cited as the top factor contributing to the actual war with State’s rights versus Federal rights (an interesting parallel, playing out currently) and finally the fight between abolitionists and slave owners, is cited as the third contributing cause with varied degrees and schools of thought as to whom and what was involved.

While Massachusetts was one of the first states to rule slavery unconstitutional, a decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts based on that states Constitution of 1780. It was in 1780 that Pennsylvania passed the ‘Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery’ that freed the future children of slaves. Those born prior to the Act remain enslaved for life. The Act becomes a model for other Northern states. Last of that states slaves were freed 1847.

The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney on March 14, 1794 and could be cited as a point of conversion of America’s society from agrarian culture into an industrial one although most historians cite 1760 as the transition year, due to labor going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power, and the development of machine tools.

I however bring up the cotton gin as the South had long relied on hand labor and agriculture, economically they could not compete with the North and as machines became more efficient and autonomous, slavery was already headed the way of the dinosaur in most industrialized countries; save for the Middle East, that still boast a rather booming and active slave trade.

The key points to take from this is; Slavery was not the chief cause of the Civil War but it was a cause and even us ignorant Southern Okies, have a better grasp of history than you do.

Let me take this a step further with your comment:

“Defenders of the flag need to realize that after the Civil War, nobody was flying this thing, including Robert E. Lee. It is funny how “heritage” didn’t suddenly become important until the descendants of the people who used to be slaves suddenly started to get the same rights they had.”

Did you bother to read this for how contradictory this statement is to the heart of your angst against the Confederate flag? If nobody was flying it; not even Robert E. Lee, than your representation of it being a symbol, like that of the Nazi flag, being one of hate; suddenly becomes negated.

However you were accusing Southerners of ignorance and this is about me highlighting you own or are you just lying. The South had many flags during the Civil War and this caused a great deal of confusion during combat as many resembled ‘Old Glory’. That was what flags and banners are for, you know, identification and communication of combat units, at a distance, during battle, before ‘radio’ existed. Yet addressing your erroneous point more directly:

“On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in General Robert E. Lee’s newly reorganized Army of Northern Virginia received the new battle flags in ceremonies at Centreville and Manassas, Virginia, and carried them throughout the Civil War. Beauregard gave a speech encouraging the soldiers to treat this new flag with honor and that it must never be surrendered.

Many soldiers wrote home about the ceremony and the impression the flag had upon them, the “fighting colors” boosting morale after the confusion at the Battle of First Manassas. From that point on, the battle flag only grew in its identification with the Confederacy and the South in general. Later, a 13th star was added for Kentucky.”

So, what does the above factual history about the Confederate Battle Square or ‘Stars and Bars’, mean in context to your article. It means that you and your editors are either very ignorant of the Civil War, very stupid or lying and using a hate filled rant full of erroneous propaganda to incite more hate against a symbol that will forever be etched in American history; like it or not.

So where was all your righteous indignation over the Confederate flag for the last 154 other years of history or did you only just learn to write? Perhaps you need to devote more time to reading before you start spouting off about history or any other subject.

Basically I have proven the subject matter you used to make your points erroneous; as such the entire headline you maintain is equally erroneous. I am not denying that racism exists, it does but the Confederate Battle Square is not the representation of it, as you are trying so desperately to claim. It is rather a reminder of a tragic point in our history, one that should not be forgotten, ever.

After all, those who do not remember the sins of the past; are doomed to repeat them.  Based on the your article; I’d say your more than half-way there.”

– By Leonard J. Siebert

Thank you Mr. Siebert for setting people straight.  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

This post was written in response to this article: “Dirt Ignorant, Flag Waving Bigots Out in Force Across the South“.

Note: The graphics I added.

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“FATHERLESS AMERICA” IS

The problem in American is not the “gun culture”. It’s the fatherless culture, says New York Times best-selling Larry Elder, the author of the just released “Dear Father, Dear Son.”

Larry Elder

Appearing on WVON in Chicago, Elder said, “As tragic and horrific the Connecticut shooting was, the face of gun violence in America is not Sandy Hook. It is Chicago. It is Philadelphia. It is Newark. Most murders and murder victims are black–and live in urban areas.”

In Chicago, there were 500 murders, the majority in black neighborhoods and the majority of that was gang-related.

In 1965, 25% of black children were born to unwed mothers. Today the number is nearly 70%, with 50% of Hispanics children and 25% of children born outside of wedlock.

Studies have long established the relationship between homes without an involved father with higher drop out rates, unwed parenthood, welfare dependency, drug abuse–and crime.

Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, and Al Sharpton all had issues with their fathers.

In Jackson’s case, his teen-age mother got pregnant by the married man next door. As a child, Jackson was taunted, “Jesse ain’t got no Daddy. Jess ain’t got no Daddy.”

In Farrakhan’s case, his mother was estranged from her husband. She had a boyfriend, but had sex with her estranged husband. She got pregnant and did not want the boyfriend to find out. She attempted a self-abortion with a coat-hanger.

In Sharpton’s case, his family led a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, until his father abandoned the family. At that point Sharpton’s family fought poverty.

All three should know first hand what Barbara Bush said is true, “What happens in your house is more important than what happens in the White House.”

Does the pain of growing up without fathers make them see the world though the lens of a victim? Dos their relationship with their fathers explain why they act as if America remains as racist as it was before the modern civil rights movement? They they want–even require– an “enemy”?

Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks From the headquarters of Operation PUSH, United to Save Humanity annual convention. Chicago, July 1973.

Stunning … a wonderful read … a page-turner … a handbook for life.” Those words of advance praise from another celebrated author scarcely convey just how powerfully mesmerizing is the latest book by New York Times best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host Larry Elder.

Released by WND Books,”Dear Father, Dear Son” is a personal memoir of Elder’s troubled – one might even say tortured – relationship with his father, and the astonishing outcome that develops when Elder, at long last, confronts him.

Says Elder: “A man’s relationship with his father – every boy, every man lucky enough to have a father in his life has to figure that out. My own father? I thought I knew him – even though he seldom talked about himself. And what I knew I hated – really, really hated. Cold, ill-tempered, thin-skinned, my father always seemed on the brink of erupting. Scared to death of him, I kept telling myself to find the courage to ‘stand up to him.’ When I was fifteen, I did.” After that, said Elder, “We did not speak to each other for ten years.”

“And then we did – for eight hours.”

The result can’t be described. It has to be experienced.

As reflected in the book’s subtitle – “Two Lives … Eight Hours” – one extraordinary, all-day conversation between Elder and his long-estranged father utterly transformed their relationship. It is no exaggeration to say the book will likewise transform readers. “Dear Father, Dear Son” is the story of one man discovering a son he never really knew. And of the son finding a man, a friend, a father who had really been there all along.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host. His latest book is “Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives … Eight Hours.” Larry Elder, a “firebrand libertarian” according to “Daily Variety,” has been the subject of profiles by both CBS’ “60 Minutes” and ABC’s “20/20.” His previous best-selling books – “The 10 Things You Can’t Say in America,” “Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies and the Special Interests That Divide America” and “What’s Race Got to Do with It? Why It’s Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America” – all have met with critical acclaim.

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The next Presidential Election is just around the corner and I can hardly wait. Then I got to thinking about the way voters have really been boxed in over the years.  Laws have been enacted that have  all but guaranteed a Republican or a Democrat would lie their way to the White House.  The entire election process has been corrupted and no longer functions properly.

It just doesn’t seem to me like we are getting the bright, honest men of integrity to run for office these days. Perhaps, we need to make some changes to our current system to better the odds to encourage fine leaders to run for office.

On my wish list for changes that should be made before the next election:

Mandatory Testing for Public Employees

• Anyone running for public office, must submit to an I.Q. test. Those with I.Q.s under 80, are disqualified to run. That should weed out at least 50% of those currently in office.
• Any candidate running for office must have his own house in order. Just like most other positions of trust, prospective candidates must submit to a credit check, chexsystems and he or she must be current with all IRS obligations. That should take care of the other 50%, leaving us with a clean house.

I watch for those campaign mailers and save them each election year. I like to pull them out when I make my choices and consider how well thought out the materials are. In other words, how effectively are they using their own resources. I pay closer attention to the smaller pieces of mail because these are the people who know how to stretch a dollar bill and still get the job done.

I personally hate getting those  huge things that won’t even fit easily into our mailbox.  I know those things are costly and they are a huge waste of money. Even the elderly don’t  need 3 inch type and if they do, it makes far more  sense for that person to grab their eye glasses or magnifying glass — because if their eyes are that bad, you know they  have their own.

The  government  — those who work for the people — must start thinking before spending.  Government workers need to let people do for themselves, and stop trying to take care of everyone. It’s time you start to do the job you were hired for.   Period!

I have a question. Why is it that taxpayers are paying the freight for children to be educated at public schools? Schools keep crying for more money, but do you realize that most parents could pay less to send their child to a private school than it costs to educate a child in the public school?

If we are paying for a private school education, why are our children still expected to received a “standardized education?” Maybe that is part of the problem. We have the resources to create a tailor-made  educational system that is better suited to the needs of a growing child. Just ask John Taylor Gatto, he proved it 20 years ago.

If children are going to be continually tested and grilled throughout their academic careers, maybe we should subject the teachers to standardized testing each year as well. And while we are at it, let’s just extend it to all public workers.

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