Today is the 146 anniversary of the technical end of the Civil War. I am not sure it is really over.
The budget crisis has been subdued for a few days. Will it rain this weekend and will the bluebell festival be ruined?
137 Thoughts to “Open Thread……………………………………………Saturday, April 9”
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- Blue Virginia
- Citizen Tom
- Counts of Monte Cristo. The
- Derecho, The
- Dixie Pig, The
- My Side of the Fence
- My Star Journey
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- New Dominion Project
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- One Libertarians's Point of View by Al Alborn
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- PWCPolitics.com
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- The Jeffersoniad
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- You, Me and the Lamp Post
Farewell Freedom! Farewell to the Confederacy! We welcome our new Yankee overlords.
Oh, Dixie, the land of King Cotton,
The home of the brave and the free;
A nation by freedom begotten,
The terror of despots to be.
Wherever thy banner is streaming,
Base tyranny quails at thy feet;
And liberty’s sunlight is beaming
In splendor of majesty sweet.
Then three cheers for our Army so true,
Three cheers for our President too;
May our banner triumphantly wave
Over Dixie, the land of the brave!
When Liberty sounds her war rattle,
Demanding her right and her due,
The first land to rally to battle
Is Dixie, the home of the true.
Thick as leaves of the forest in summer,
Her brave sons will rise on each plain
And then strike till each vandal comer
Lies dead on the soil he would stain.
Then three cheers for our Army so true,
Three cheers for our President too;
May our banner triumphantly wave
Over Dixie, the land of the brave!
May the names of the dead that we cherish
Fill memory’s cup to the brim;
May the laurels we’ve won never perish,
Nor our stars of their glory grow dim.
May our states of the South never sever
But companions of freedom e’er be;
May they flourish Confed’rate forever,
The boast of the brave and the free.
Then three cheers for our Army so true,
Three cheers for our President too;
May our banner triumphantly wave
Over Dixie, the land of the brave!
by Captain Huges
From here, with the music: http://www.civilwarpoetry.org/confederate/songs/cotton.html
DIXIE’S LAND by Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815-1904)
I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten;
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!
In Dixie’s Land where I was born in,
Early on one frosty morning,
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!
CHORUS:Then I wish I was in Dixie! Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie’s Land I’ll take my stand, to live and die in Dixie!
Away! Away! Away down South in Dixie!
Away! Away! Away down South in Dixie!
Old Missus married “Will the Weaver”;
William was a gay deceiver!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!
But when he put his arm around her,
Smiled as fierce as a forty-pounder!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!–CHORUS
His face was sharp as a butcher’s cleaver;
But that did not seem to grieve her!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!
Old Missus acted the foolish part
And died for a man that broke her heart!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!–CHORUS
Now here’s a health to the next old missus
And all the gals that want to kiss us!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!
But if you want to drive away sorrow,
Come and hear this song tomorrow!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!–CHORUS
There’s buckwheat cakes and Injin batter,
Makes you fat or a little fatter!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!
Then hoe it down and scratch your gravel,
To Dixie’s Land I’m bound to travel!
Look away! Look away! Look away, Dixie’s Land!–CHORUS
But here is the true legacy of brother fighting brother or those fighting for their country. God bless those souls.
DIRGE FOR A SOLDIER In Memory of Gen. Philip Kearny By George H. Boker (1823-1890)
Close his eyes; his work is done!
What to him is friend or foeman?
Rise of moon, or set of sun,
Hand of man, or kiss of woman?
Lay him low, lay him low
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? He cannot know:
Lay him low!
As man may, he fought his fight,
Proved his truth by his endeavor;
Let him sleep in solemn night,
Sleep forever, and forever.
Lay him low, lay him low
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? He cannot know:
Lay him low!
Fold him in his Country’s stars,
Roll the drum and fire the volley!
What to him are all our wars,
What but death bemocking folly?
Lay him low, lay him low
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? He cannot know:
Lay him low!
Leave him to God’s watching eye,
Trust him to the hand that made him.
Mortal love weeps idly by:
God alone has power to aid him.
Lay him low, lay him low
In the clover or the snow!
What cares he? He cannot know:
Lay him low!
@Cargosquid
Dirge–That’s the important poem/song, Cargo.
Amen.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/pooroldrebel.htm
Best sung around an evening campfire with fellow good old boys and a bottle
or two of Rebel Yell.
“I did believe at the time that war was an unnecessary condition of affairs and might have been avoided, if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.” General R.E. Lee
A true statement said in 1866 applicable to the budget wars.
Ray,
Agree with General Lee – the horrible war could have been avoided if
the hot heads on both sides had been held in check.
Sadly, forbearance and wisdom are too often in short supply.
“A rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight …”
Shelby Foote
Shelby Foote looked awfully young in The Civil War. I didn’t realize he was as old as he was?
@Big Dog
Aren’t they all?
One Confederate officer agreed that “Brave men may become good friends.” “You may forgive us but we won’t be forgiven. There is rancor in our hearts…which you little dream of. We hate you, sir.”
From Ken Burn’s Civil War.
I honestly believe that was true. I heard the hatred the last time first hand April 6, 2006. I think it will last until every last personal link to that war is gone.
war is never the answer. make love, not war
@e, I never knew you were an old hippy!
we must rise above our petty differences, and embrace our common humanity
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the leading advocate for peace and nonviolence in Congress, has reintroduced legislation that would authorize a Cabinet-level Department of Peace.
“Our nation remains engaged in two wars and we continue to struggle to take care of citizens here at home. As the domestic economic impact of the wars abroad make life harder for millions of Americans, the House of Representatives voted to eliminate funding for the U.S. Institute of Peace. This is the wrong approach. When times are tough, we must renew our efforts for peace. When relationships are strained by economic hardship, domestic violence, violent robbery and abuse of children and animals are likely to increase. Now is not the time to ignore social issues and interpersonal relationships,” said Kucinich.
“We must continue to challenge the notion that war is inevitable and that peace is impractical. Peace is inevitable. It is war that is impractical,” added Kucinich.
The Cabinet-level Department authorized in the legislation embodies a broad-based approach to peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution at both domestic and international levels. The Department of Peace would serve to promote nonviolence as an organizing principle in our society, and help to create the conditions for a more peaceful world
“Peace is a foundational principle of this Congress and of this country. This bill gives it a chance to have an animating power in our civic life,” added Kucinich. “Our efforts for peace must unite different groups around the country and appeal to those who have made peace an organizing principle in their daily lives,” said Kucinich.
Living proof that aliens live amongst us. E has been abducted.
Bring back Elena’s cousin!!!! She will put him on bread and water. You aliens don’t have to remove his brain!!!!
I am thoroghly convinced that we Americans love war since the longest we have ever gone without being involved in some kind of “dust up” is the 21 years between “The Great War”, later called WWI after we had another, and World War II.
Beginning with King Philip’s War, which ironically began on July 4, 1675 against the Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuck Indians we have continued to get into a scrap someone else or ourselves–26 in all. It seems to me the is a further refutation of Kucinich’s claim that, ““Peace is a foundational principle of this Congress and of this country.” Not to mention the present war in the Congress over $$ and idealogy.
A department of Peace? Hmmmmm…
Brigadier General Stand Watie, one of two Native American generals in the Civil War, did not surrender until June 25, 1865–the last Confederate general in the field. Stand Watie was a Cherokee who led the Cherokee Nation as Principle Chief from 1862 to 1866. Interestingly enough, Watie was a slave holder…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2063861,00.html
Reading AND watching GWTW was required by my HS history teacher
in Atlanta a “few” decades ago.
Bill Golden points out that our nation went another $54 billion in debt in the week the Captol Hill Clowns were fighting over $38 billion. Duh!!!!!
@Big Dog
Do you think that review was written by a southerner? I did not find the schools in that region horrible, did you?
Another quote:
. Like most feudal societies, the South had to defend its honor because it had little else. In the South, the hotheads usually prevail.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2063861,00.html#ixzz1J8FwarT4
I disagree, at least from the perspective of middle and upper classes.
can someone explain to me why we have to fix everything, budget wise, together. I am not an accountant, but this is the way that I see it. SS has a revenue stream (6.2% FICA). Medicare has a revenue stream (1.45% FICA) . And Income Tax. FICA has not been adjusted since 1990 – if SS or Medicare need funding, change the rates, or payouts. If the Fed does not have enough money, change the tax rates or spending.
What I do not understand is why we have to change SS to fund DoD, or change Medicare to pay for roads etc. They should be separate conversations. SS and Medicare need to stand on their own – if they need tweaking, it is tweaking for their solvency, not to compensate for the US Deficit. I think they muddle everything together just to cause more confusion.
Pat.H
You are just too darn logical!
What an excellent point, Pat. I guess they can’t hold each other hostage if they use logic.
http://www.manassasbullrun.com/feature/23/The-National-Jubilee-of-Peace.htm
History at your doorstep — you don’t want to miss it.
@Big Dog
Sounds great and according to the release, it is free!
Yep, George, good call. Stand Watie. Led the Cherokee cavalry at Pea Ridge and elsewhere on the Western Front. One of the best assets Confederate General Sterling Price had at his disposal. Caused those Cherokee who supported the Union to flee into Kansas. Watie’s boys and allied tribes also helped to introduce scalping into the Civil War. That pissed off the Union farm boys from Iowa so much that they began to retaliate in kind against Indians on the Confederate side.
The Western Front was a vicious battlefield, fed much by the pre-war hatred and violence between the Missouri and Arkansas slave holders and the anti-slavery Jayhawkers of “Bloody Kansas.” Quantrill and other Southern paramilitaries had none of the civilized qualities of our own Grey Ghost in Virginia. They rode into unsuspecting Kansas towns, killed the civilian men, and burned the towns to the ground. When Free Blacks and ex-slaves left their shelter in Kansas and joined the ranks of the Union army, they had to fight until death or try their best to flee capture. They were sometimes shot dead where they stood, even as they raised their hands in surrender. Those who were taken as captures were sent back into slavery in the Deep South. You talk about risk and courage!
And Union troops started to do similar things, driving out or killing pro-Southern farm families and then causing the entire Missouri-Kansas border on the Missouri side to become a no-man’s land frequented only by armies and carrion crows. We talk about Gettysburg and Manassas and Chancellorsville; but out there in the West there was a terrible conflict on a smaller scale where all the worst of civil warfare was seen — worse even than the ravaging of the Loudoun Valley or the Shenandoah. There seemed to be no mercy whatsoever in that place.
Mrs. W’s hometown was one of those burned to the ground by Quantrill’s raiders. The town received a short-notice warning which allowed many of the men to escape (barely) into the prairie. About the only thing that Quantrill did not do was kill women. As the raiders moved through the town burning every structure and murdering those men who had not escaped, they arrived at a certain home. Torches in hand, they heard the lady of the house ask if they would help her carry her precious family heirloom rug into the yard so that it would not be destroyed with her home. The raiders obliged her and carried out the rug. They then torched the home and rode on to their next target. What they never realized was that the lady’s husband, unable to get away with the others, was rolled up in that rug.
@Pat.Herve
Well, the SS fund has been raided so many times, that the general fund is paying that pension. Since the General fund now has to pay SS back….
Now, if we could just get some politicians to think that way about solving our debt problem.
Pat’s solutions are a far cry from some of the other things we have heard.
I can have a civilized conversation when we get over this notion that the rich are going to create jobs (bwaaahahahahahahaha) and should be protected from any increase in taxes.
Tea Party types are more than willing to trash teachers and cops and put reduce their already meager income by 5%-10% and yet aren’t willing to bump up some rich bastard’s tax rate by some paltry 1-2%.
Why this disconnect? Why do you want to steal from the poor and and give to the rich?
What really bothers me is why the middle class is buying this crap.
Willing to trash teachers and cops…I keep hearing that.
Repeating it will not make it true.
What we do criticize are the unions and the thuggish tactics that they are employing and their refusal to understand that the states don’t have any more money. If a state wants to raise taxes on the “rich,” nothing stops them. But, then, if that’s the solution, why are the states that tax the rich the most, New York and California, so broke…..
Oh, that’s right, too much spending, too much pension liabilities, too much public sector union influence.
Teachers, firemen, etc, are great. But they are not saints, and as we’ve seen in Wisconsin, as prone to stupidity, greed, violence, and intimidation as anybody.
While we don’t have a Department of Peace, we do have the U.S. Institute of Peace. It is a federally funded nonprofit created by legislation President Reagan signed in 1984. The House voted last month to defund it. There’s a lot more profit in war than peace … Eisenhower didn’t warn us to beware the peace-industrial complex.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0321/Why-did-Congress-cut-funds-for-peace-in-a-time-of-war
I am not surprised actually.
I never trust people who are trying to rescue us from ourselves. Its a power-play.
Why the Right-Wing Bullies Will Hold The Nation Hostage Again and Again
The President continues to legitimize the Republican claim that too much government spending caused the economy to tank, and that by cutting back spending we’ll get the economy going again.
Even before the bullies began hammering him, his deficit commission already recommended $3 of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increase. Then the President froze non-defense domestic spending and froze federal pay. And he continues to draw the false analogy between a family’s budget and the national budget.
He is losing the war of ideas because he won’t tell the American public the truth: That we need more government spending now — not less — in order to get out of the gravitational pull of the Great Recession.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-the-Right-Wing-Bullies-by-Robert-Reich-110410-427.html
I’m breathless in anticipation waiting to hear all the stories about people who got their careers started working for the homeless.
The last 10 years have demonstrated that low taxes on the wealthy and corporations have not produced any jobs. Unemployment is at around 10%. Epic failure.
2000 142,583,000 136,891,000 5,692,000 4.0%
2010 08BM 153,888,667 139,063,917 14,824,750 9.6%
Yep. Except that the tax rates didn’t change all that much. What has changed is the insane spending, demonization of certain businesses, and government interference in the actual running of industry.
The politically connected businesses grew stronger, Congress decided that the re-payment of loans was of a lesser priority than getting poor people into houses, and in the 2009 fiscal year, Congress decided to open the taps on spending.
So, again, since the tax rates haven’t really changed since 2000: 15, 28, 31,36, 39.6 to 2011: 10, 15, 25, 28. 33, 35. (Why in hell is there a tax rate on people making $0 – $8500?)
what HAS changed? The spending. That and the bill coming due on the idiocy concocted by Congress years ago on 1) repealing Glass-Stegall 2) interfering in the housing market and then having Fannie/Freddie buy up the bad loans 3) bailouts for the politically connected.
Just raising taxes won’t do a thing except make Congress think that it can spend MORE money. We must cut spending FIRST. When I see REAL cuts coming from Congress, then, perhaps, we might see a tax increase. But, only if they can be trusted not to waste THAT money.
Hey, if they can structure it, how about a tax on all citizens of 1% that pays directly to the debt? Or a national sales tax that does that?
http://poemsfromthebattlefield.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/volunteers-preserving-local-history/
Former Manassas Mayor T.O. Taylor died iin 1911. A Confederate veteran
and leading citizen of the community.
(His obit notes a son – Conway was former editor of the Meanasses Journal
— hum).
@Slowpoke Rodriguez
Both lists would be short, in all probability.
How about all the jobs the rich people create. Most jobs I know are formed by people who aren’t rich but who start companies and put their shoulder to the grind stone right along with everyone else. They get rich over time.
I guess you are one of the rich just trying to defend your castle, Slow?
@Cargo, did you miss the Great Recession? Near economic collapse of 2008?
There really was not a business model for pulling us out of that crash. I don’t believe the average person had the answers.
Would you have voted for TARP, Slow?
You mean the current great Recession? Um…yes. And I see how well the current policies are helping. Remember when Obama stated that his billions in stimulus were needed to keep unemployment below 8% – Guaranteed!? Or that we needed a stimulus for all these shovel ready projects that he later admitted did not exist? Btw, where did that money get spent? Especially in those non-existent districts? Who cut those checks?
I may not have a perfect business model to stop a recession, but what happens when you spend money and interfere in the business cycle is shown in history. Great Depression?
All those little steps that Congress enacted to either “save us pain” or “make the market “more fair” etc, in my, albeit limited, understanding, contributed to this mess.
Banks are reluctant to let houses go for reduced prices because as long as they are on the books at the original loan price, their books won’t show a loss and the new “mark to market” rule won’t sink them. If their balance sheet show too much loss, the government is wanting to interfere too much. Now, the government is getting involved in the mortgage broker business. Say goodbye to easy mortgages. Only the big boys, like the banks, will survive. The politically connected get the money. When GM was closing dealerships when it was first taken over, someone noticed that over 2/3’s of the dealerships closed were owned by people that donated to the GOP. Profitable dealerships at that.
Personally, I hope GM gets bought by a profitable car company and starts to make good cars again.
We’ve had recessions before. We’ll have them again. The government cannot stop them. They can cause them. And if the gov’t is a main cause behind them, then how will MORE interference help?
The thing we must remember about “Civil” wars is, they ain’t…
Cheney to Treasury: “Deficits don’t matter”
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill was told “deficits don’t matter” when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.
O’Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush’s economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from “the corporate crowd,” a key constituency.
O’Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: “We won the midterms (congressional elections).
http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/Dick_Cheney_Budget_+_Economy.htm
Those tax cuts are still in place. Obama extended them, which was a stupid move. And what do we have to show for these tax cuts that have been in place for the better part of a decade? 10% unemployment and record deficits!
Deficits don’t matter.
Whaht a great find Starry. I suppose Reagan, and Cheney were right before they were wrong or wrong before they were right…or what the hell! Its our mantra!
I expect one day Bush and Obama will get historical credit for saving the country from the Great Recession if we can protect it from TTM. (tea party mentality)
I give Bush a lot of credit for pushing through TARP to free up credit. It was never to bail out the big boys. It was to keep main street from collapsing.
Wow. Really? So Microsoft hasn’t hired anyone in the last 20 years while Gates has been rich? Apple hasn’t hired anyone since Jobs was rich? This list I’m compiling covers almost all jobs in America. Your turn….give some examples of jobs the poor have created (other than Government jobs).
I’ll even help you out with “jobs the poor create” thing. I’ll get you started….lawyers. Yippee! More Lawyers!
@Slowpoke Rodriguez
You know that isn’t what I said.
Stop twisting. Obviously Bill Gates didn’t hire because he got a tax break. When you give away millions, money isn’t an object.
No, he didn’t. But, he also didn’t hire when he was poor and making only a small profit. And he also wasn’t spending money on lobbyists until that idiotic lawsuit about embedded browsers was invented. Now he has to waste millions on them to defend his business.
Lessen the power of the government and you take money out of government and lessen the corruption.
A funny anecdote. He said in an interview when Windows developed in Canada, first came out, that he crossed the border and was asked, “Anything to declare?” He held up a box of discs and and said, “This is worth a billion dollars.”
They didn’t believe him and let his pass without paying.
Interesting how not one conservative has disputed O’Neils biography. I have that book Starry, totally forgot I had read it til now!
What people seem to forget is that when Clinton left office we were on the right track at least. Those in the upper 1% had a minimal tax increase and those in the rest, like us schlubs, has a tax decrease. We had an econmic boom that helped revenue and, well, besides the millions WASTED on one Clinton investigation after another, we had no huge outlay of money.
The mess we are in now is not all Bush’s fault, that would be ridiculous to claim, however, going to two wars (one of which I vehemently opposed from the beginning…Iraq)and not requiring the country to kick in a little extra to pay for the cost was fiscally irresponsible. Futhermore, there was not new real industry created or fostered by the government, all we had was the housing industry and wall street trading fake paper to make money.
Bush had to approve TARP and Obama had to create jobs with a government stimulus. Those were temporary fixes, not meant to replace sane banking regulation or private industry jobs. There is no simple black/white answer when you are on the precipice of a second depression.
Since I think the left has conceded the arguement on the whole poor create jobs thing.. I’ll toss in the hand grenade of food stamps and Moody’s claim that for every dollar spent on the program it generates $1.73 in the economy.
Now, granted the poor don’t supply the money as it’s confiscated from us middle classers at the point of a spear but in terms of govt programs that ‘work’.. Food stamps seems to be one of them.
Starry’s arguement is still in moon bat territory but I wanted to at least throw a rope to help.. 😉
@marin, there is nothing to concede. No one ever said poor people created jobs. I haven’t seen much evidence that rich people do either. Are we the left? I guess compared to you I am far left.
No opinion on food stamps. I know lots of people resent seeing people with them in the stores, especially if you go out right behind them and the people are driving a nicer car than you are.
And hey bucko, watch how the moon term is thrown about. No moon bats around here.
Good Lord, there has been some sort of subhuman monster roaming around the beach area of Nassau County on Long Island. Police have found nine sets of female remains so far, at least one where time of death may have been as long as two years ago. They believe the victims were prostitutes or call girls. The search dogs are finding them in the brush like it was a scavenger hunt.
My argument is that tax cuts do not create jobs. The proof is in the pudding. 10% unemployment is what we have for 10 years of tax cuts.
Moonbat? Heard the old adage about the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? If you think more tax cuts are going to create more jobs, well, think about the defintion of insanity.
@marinm
Moon bat might not be the right term. Moon bat hits the tree. Bat$hit is in the center ring.
What a pathetic response, slowpoke. Is that the best you can?