FOR A CAUSE GREATER THAN SELF

For quite a number of years it has been my belief that most human beings have a deeply-held, innate desire to be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. I say most humans because I know there are some people who are so self-centered that they think everything revolves around just them. Fortunately, these types are in the minority although an inordinate number of them tend to get a great deal of attention because of the media-driven pop culture of today.

By contrast, I admire and appreciate those individuals who are not all into themselves and who seek to be part of that bigger reality. That is why Saturday, September 13 was such a gratifying day for me. Before I get into that, though, let me revisit some recent history.

In February of 2002, the Florida Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans held a dedication ceremony near White Springs for the second of our "Flags Across Florida" sites. At the White Springs site, adjacent to I-75 about ten miles north of Lake City, we had put in place a 100-foot flagpole and three marble monuments bearing the names of Confederate soldiers and units and also the names of individuals who had contributed significantly to the Division and to the $40,000 cost of the memorial.

At the ceremony of February 15,2002, with about 500 people in attendance, we heard speeches from national and state SCV dignitaries followed by speeches by a member of the Florida House of Representatives and a retired legislator who has the distinction of being the only person to ever serve as both Speaker of the House and Senate President in the Florida legislature.

Finally, the crowning moment arrived with the raising of a 20 foot by 38 foot Confederate Battle Flag to fly atop the huge flagpole. At that time, it was the largest flying Confederate Battle Flag anywhere in the world.

Since that ceremony back in 2002, millions of vehicles have passed the site and multitudes have observed the marvelous sight of that beautiful and historic flag flying in the Florida sky. Many have been moved to make contributions toward site improvement of the memorial. So many contributed, in fact, that the Florida Division found it necessary to add another monument to the site. This monument, a large obelisk, was put in place earlier this year. This now brings us to September 13.

The monuments, flagpole and spotlights at the White Springs site all sit atop a large concrete slab. It was decided that the memorial would be enhanced by the addition of large ceramic tiles to cover the slab. To cover the entire surface would require several hundred of these tiles and these were recently purchased. The decision was made to hold a work party at the site on September 13 to lay the tile and do general clean-up of the area and the call went out to the various camps of the Florida Division SCV.

Now, I'm sure you remember what happened on September 12th. That was the day that Hurricane Ike chose to slam into the Texas coast and create panic over much of Florida as rumors spread quickly that there was not, nor would there soon be, gasoline available in the state.

Despite all this chaos and panic (especially in the Tallahassee area), when I arrived at the flag site (about a hundred miles east of Tallahassee) Saturday morning, I found almost twenty compatriots representing ten SCV camps already there and working. It was truly a gratifying sight and one that made me feel proud to belong to an organization that had individuals of such character that they would, despite the chaotic gasoline situation, make the special effort to be part of something bigger than themselves.

Actually that was the second sight that morning that touched me and made me feel pride. The first had occurred about a half hour earlier when I, traveling eastbound, saw in the westbound lane of I-10 what appeared to be a convoy of service vehicles (bucket trucks and other work vehicles). At first I wondered what so many were doing on the road so early on a Saturday morning and then I realized that this was a group of good Floridians who were heading west to Texas and Louisiana to help our fellow citizens who had the misfortune of being in the path of Ike. I've got to say my eyes misted up as I watched truck after truck after truck pass by filled with fine people who were engaged in a cause bigger than themselves.

Upon arriving at the White Springs site, I learned that some of my SCV compatriots had actually arrived Friday evening and camped out there so they could get started at sunup Saturday morning. I had to return to Tallahassee that afternoon to attend a wedding but I learned that several of our brotherhood also spent Saturday night on-site and worked until mid-afternoon on Sunday. I am truly proud of the dedication and devotion shown by these fine gentlemen.

Sunday evening I spoke by phone with Division Commander Doug Dawson and later Division 4th Lt. Commander Jim Darby to get progress reports. Our group was able to install two new spotlights with protective casings and new wiring, completely tile the entire memorial site and finish a portion of the grouting required for the large tiled area. We also did a general site improvement and landscape clean-up. Altogether a fine effort by a dedicated group.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the compatriots who gave so generously for the Cause. Florida Division Commander Doug Dawson of Camp 285 made the trip all the way across the top of the state from Pensacola and did not get home until Sunday evening. Camp 703 (Gadsden County) had the largest delegation with Division 4th Lt. Cmdr. Jim Darby, Brigade Commander Jamey Creel, Sean Childers, David Brinkley and John Logue all there to work. Brigade Commander Clement Lindsey and son-in-law Skee Hudson made the trip from Trenton representing Camp 770. Brigade Commander A.L. Miller of Camp 746 was not only present but also hosted Commander Dawson for the weekend. Victor Crandall, Commander of Camp 2012 in Perry, and Earl Green of Camp 1463 in Lake City did themselves proud. Max Basford, past commander of Camp 1346, came all the way from Marianna. Brigade Commander Larry Rosenblatt and Camp Commander Thomas Going of Camp 2041 made the westward trek to White Springs and Larry Rowe and Luke Bryant of Camp 2120 were absolutely remarkable as tile-layers (as was Lt. Cmdr. Darby).

When all the inscriptions are finished on the new obelisk, the Division plans to have another ceremony to show-off the new and improved site. Anyone reading this article who has not yet visited the White Springs memorial is invited to stop by the site on your next trip to the area. You can't miss it as the flagpole with the beautiful Battle Flag flying is right alongside the northbound lane of I-75.

Every time I go there in the future, I will have warm memories of the great work and fine people who were there on this special occasion working for a cause greater than self.

DEO VINDICE

Bob Hurst is Commander of Col. David Lang Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans in Tallahassee, and 2nd Lt. Commander, Florida Division, SCV. He can be reached at confederatedad1@yahoo.com or 850-878-7010.

UPDATE ON CONCORD WYNDHAM-WINGATE HERITAGE DEFENSE

The events in Concord at the Wingate hotel is of high interest to many Compatriots, therefore here is an interim report on the above subject.

We believe some positive developments have occurred which indicate the direction
we are taking has been effective thus far.

This report concerns the latest developments relative to the blatant actions by the owner-franchisee of the Concord, NC, Wyndham-Wingate Hotel during the recent SCV reunion there.

A short summary of the incident is hotel management objected to Bazz Childress, Lt. Commander of the Kentucky Division, for displaying a Confederate battle flag in the window of his hotel room.

Hotel management ordered Compatriot Childress to remove the flag. When he courteously refused, the hotel owner called the police, made charges against Compatriot Childress, and evicted him.

We immediately complained by certified letter to the CEO of Wyndham-Wingate parent corporation. After some delay we received a response from their legal department which apologized for the incident and informed us the parent franchisor has notified the owner-franchisee that he is on his own, in effect, to expect no help or support from the parent organization. They also informed us that they had forwarded the complaint to the local franchisee and "expressed their concern" over the situation.

Commander Childress has counsel that is pursuing the complaint in Concord. It would appear likely that the original court date will be postponed. We also have legal guidance that has developed our strategy which we intend to pursue until this matter comes to a final conclusion.

We will keep you informed as the case progresses.

Chuck McMichael
Commander-in-Chief
scvcic72@gmail.com

A CENTURY OF YANKEE WAR CRIMES

By Jerry C. Brewer, Native Texan

Immediately following the War of Northern Aggression, during which Sherman, Custer and Sheridan wantonly ravaged Southern property, destroying crops, burning homes and killing innocent civilians, their attention was turned to the west and the Plains Indians. The great nations of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Comanche stood between the big business Republicans in the east who were intent on western expansion to line their pockets with the millions to be made there. So, in order to accomplish that, it was necessary that those nations be removed. That meant the government, controlled by Republican business interests, must be enlisted for Northern railroads and other big business interests to gain control of Indian lands.

Since the victors always write their version of history to vindicate their cause, it is claimed that the Indian nations were savages and preyed upon helpless, peaceful, white settlers. The truth is that these nations had roamed the great plains for centuries, hunting the buffalo, raising their families and living as nomads. Following the War of Northern Aggression, the United States government cast greedy eyes westward and saw fortunes to be made by powerful railroad barons that would also fill government coffers. But the rightful inhabitants of those lands, the Indians, first had to be removed. And, since the Indian was considered sub-human (Sherman called them "nits") he could be eradicated with impunity. It was not the Indian who made war upon the whites. It was the Washington elite who made war on the Indians in order to take their homes from them.

That's where Sherman, Sheridan and Custer entered the picture---and with a vengeance. With the approval of their Commander-in-Chief, Abraham Lincoln, that criminal triumvirate had waged war against the Southern civilian population, in violation of every honorable principle governing warfare. "...As Sherman explained in a famous letter to his adjutant R. M. Sawyer, the enemy was subject to the government and its armies such that 'any and all rights which [the generals] choose to enforce the war—to take their lives, their homes, their lands, their everything'—was permissible. ...Almost alone among Civil War (sic) generals, Sherman forsook God as well as the rules of war, and, to all appearances, never entertained the possibility that Providence would make him pay" (Harry S. Stout, "Upon The Altar Of The Nation," Penguin Books, pp. 400-401). That was his rationale, approved by Lincoln, of making "total war" on the civilian population of the South.

The same was true in the Valley of Virginia where yankee generals David Hunter and Sheridan, along with their toady, George Custer, made war on the civilian population. Unmentioned in the memoirs of moral scum like Grant are the atrocities wrought in the Valley and elsewhere by the invading huns from the North, and they are far too numerous to document in such a short work as this. However, one eyewitness account from the pen of Henry Kyd Douglas, who was an officer under Jubal Early's command, will suffice for our purposes. Douglas quotes the son of Virginia's ex-Governor Letcher in describing the devastation of Lexington, Virginia and the burning of the Letcher house: "The officers and men sent by Hunter to do the work at once surrounded the house and plundered it—while others of them were pouring something inflammable over the furniture and setting fire to it. They refused to allow my mother to have anything carried out, not even a change of clothes; everything was destroyed that was not stolen. One officer, whose name we never knew, offered to assist in saving valuables: he got a trunk, but Captain Berry of a Pennsylvania Regiment who was in charge of the burning, refused to let him carry it out: an altercation followed when a soldier picked up the trunk and carried it into the yard. Captain Berry ordered other things that some persons were attempting to carry out to be seized and thrown into the burning building. All the buildings were burned. The roof of my grandmother's house caught fire and when a Negro servant tried to extinguish it, the soldiers threatened to shoot him if he did not come down. ...Captain Berry and many of his soldiers were extremely rude and insulting to my mother and sister. No reason, except the order of General Hunter, was given for burning our house. Washington College was plundered, apparatus destroyed, books torn up, etc." (Kyd, "I Rode With Stonewall," Fawcett Publications, Greenwich Conn., 1961, p. 277).

By 1868, Sherman was Commander of the Division of The Missouri which encompassed the plains states and whose objective was to make war on the Indians living there and eradicate them for the Republicans back east. Under his command were George Custer and Phil Sheridan. Both Sheridan and Sherman determined to wage the same kind of warfare against the Indians that they had inflicted upon the South in the War of Northern Aggression. Sheridan wrote to Sherman that, "I am of the belief that these Indians require to be soundly whipped, and the ringleaders in the present trouble hung, their ponies killed, and such destruction of their property as will make them very poor" (Stan Hoig, "The Battle of The Washita," 1976, University of Nebraska Press, p. 53). Sherman, of course , approved the suggestion.

In April of the previous year, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, whom Sherman had given command of the Department of the Missouri covering the entire state of Kansas, met with Cheyenne and Sioux chiefs at Fort Larned. Hancock told the chiefs that further action by them against whites traveling the overland trails would be punished. Cheyenne Chief Tall Bull arose to speak and told Hancock the Indians did not like the railroads being built through their land. Ignorant of Indian protocol of letting each man have his full say, Hancock interrupted the chief and threatened that, "If you should ever stop one of our railroad trains, and kill the people on it, you would be exterminated" (Hoig, p. 5). On April 19, Hancock ordered the destruction of 251 Indian lodges—111 Cheyenne and 140 Sioux—in an abandoned village. "All of the lodges and goods of the camp were thrown into huge piles and set on fire, including some 436 saddles, 942 buffalo robes, and other accoutrements." It was "estimated that it would take 300 buffalo to replace the destroyed Indian lodges" (ibid, p. 9).

Now, fast forward one century to the Vietnam War in 1968. The My Lai Massacre took place in March of that year, in which up to 500 civilians were shot and killed because they were suspected of aiding the Viet Cong. "On March 16, 1968, troops of Charlie Company, 200th Infantry Regiment of the Americal Division landed in the village following artillery and helicopter gunship preparation. Colonel Oran K. Henderson urged his officers to "go in there aggressively, close with the enemy and wipe them out for good." Lieutenant-Colonel Frank A. Barker ordered the 1st Battalion commanders to burn the houses, kill the livestock, destroy foodstuffs, and perhaps to close the wells.

"On the eve of the attack, at the Charlie Company briefing, Captain Ernest Medina informed his men that nearly all the civilian residents of the hamlets in Son M? village would have left for the market by 0700 and that any who remained would be NLF or NLF sympathizers. He was also asked whether the order included the killing of women and children; those present at the briefing later gave different accounts of Medina’s response. Some of the company soldiers, including platoon leaders, later testified that the orders as they understood them were to kill all guerrilla and North Vietnamese combatants and "suspects" (including women and children, as well as all animals), to burn the village, and pollute the wells"

"On 17 March 1970, the United States Army charged 14 officers, including Major General Samuel W. Koster, the Americal Division’s commanding officer, with suppressing information related to the incident. Most of those charges were later dropped. Brigade commander Henderson was the only officer who stood trial on charges relating to the cover-up; he was acquitted on December 17, 1971.

"After a 10-month-long trial, in which he claimed that he was following orders from his commanding officer, Captain Medina, William Calley was convicted, on Sept. 10, 1971, of premeditated murder for ordering the shootings. He was initially sentenced to life in prison. Two days later, however, President Nixon made the controversial decision to have Calley released from prison, pending appeal of his sentence. Calley’s sentence was later adjusted, so that he would eventually serve four and one-half months in a military prison at Fort Benning" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_lai_%28massacre%29).

It was hypocrisy in the highest degree that Americans condemned Lt. William Calley, the only man to be convicted in the wake of My Lai, while allowing history to exonerate the same kind of brutal disregard for human life and property that characterized Abraham Lincoln, William Sherman, Phillip Sheridan and George Custer. Neither those men, nor their subordinates ever faced a court of justice for their brutalities against innocent Southerners or Plains Indians. Instead, they have been immortalized as heroes in America's pantheon of gods.

Today, you and I live in a sordid world, created by big business Republicans of New England, along with radical abolitionists, and Universalists who deny the Deity of Jesus Christ. Honor, duty, dignity and civility began their decline as America's guiding principles in that period between 1860 and 1865. Northern business and religious socialism were well served by the tyrant Lincoln and his war criminal progeny in carrying out policies of genocide, and cultural and ethnic cleansing in the 1860s and the ensuing decades of the 19th century. Nothing will ever turn back the tide that overwhelms our once decent and God-fearing society that today almost universally embraces Humanism as a National Religion. America began her descent into that dark abyss during the reign of Lincoln and no one can tell when the judgment of God will be visited upon us. One can only say with Thomas Jefferson, that, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."

McCain-Palin Say Goodbye to Dixieland

by David S. Reif

On 03Sept08 Sarah Palin the Governor of Alaska gave the speech of her life at the Republican National Convention as she addressed a nationwide audience on primetime media. For some of us the speech was full of lines we wanted to hear from a candidate for national office. We heard from an intelligent, hard working, mother, and citizen politician that talked about issues we hold dear.

Mrs. Palin talked about family. She talked about the right to keep and bear arms. She told us about herself and her populist rise to power on the Alaskan frontier. She said she had fought corruptions by the financial and political elites. Her demeanor and message filled out the stories about a woman who could field dress a moose while rocking the cradle and veto some pork-barrel spending bill all at the same time. On some level I connected with Mrs. Palin. Yet at the same time something was bothering me; a nagging unscratchable itch cause by the speech.

Almost before the balloons and confetti could be swept up off the floor at the Minneapolis convention center another event caught my attention. This little recognized news item drifted across the web pages and newspapers like a leaf in an autumn wind; scarcely noticed by anyone.

Many miles from Dixie a small company shut their doors. Yet nearly every man and many women who have ever opened a tool box know the name of this company. The day after Mrs. Palin gave her inspiring speech the Vise Grip tool company locked its doors in the tiny town of Dewitt, Nebraska putting about 300 Americans out of work.

Closed was the 70 year old company that is a household name to anyone who has ever fixed anything. The entire operation is being moved to the People’s Democratic Republic of China (PRC). Three hundred people are put out of work and another small rural town is wiped out.

The former employees of cotton mills, shoe factories, and garment workers across the South can relate to closing factories. The dislocations are no less painful to the employees in the South as in Nebraska. However, this plant closing with its direct move to the PRC on the heels of the Republican Convention is particularly galling.

Part of my problem with Gov. Palin was that I heard nothing from her about the news from Dewitt, Nebraska. Not that I expected her to mention the Vise Grip situation but that she did not mention NAFTA or the Federal Reserve or any of the other problems caused by the very elites Mrs. Palin said she opposed in Alaska.

The issue with the PRC and the jobs going from rural America directly to China is really sticky with me. I’ve used Vice Grip tools many times. But more to the point I’ve abused Vice Grip tools. Used then as hammers, thrown them at unwelcome animals in the yard, and generally did my best to destroy them; to no avail. They are very tough tools.

For those of you in the Deep South or east of the Mississippi River the connection of NAFTA to China might not have hit you yet. However, those of us in the Trans-Mississippi; in Texas and Oklahoma and Missouri are starting to get a glimpse at phase two of the NAFTA globalist agenda.

Known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, or the NAFTA superhighway, of the NAFTA Free Trade Corridor it is a transportation link that will extend from the west coast Mexican port of Punta Colonet all the way to Kansas City, Missouri.

This behemoth will have as many as 8 lanes and a railroad, will have no customs station until you get to KC, and will be built by a private consortium headed by the Spanish Royal family using Arab money. Its purpose is to bring goods directly from China to the USA on a dedicated route using cheap foreign labor controlled out of Mexico. It will put millions out of work and exponentially increase our dependency on the Communist Chinese.

Mrs. Palin did not mention this project known to the U.S. Commerce Department as the Security, Peace, and Prosperity program (SPP.gov). Along with Mexico and Canada it will cut the country in half with a limited access transportation corridor that will be patrolled by private security forces. Its purpose is to make the elites richer and weaken America.

There was another aspect to the Republican Convention that stood out at me even more than the speech by Gov. Palin: NO SOUTHERNER ON THE TICKET. Senator McCain chose to put an Alaskan on the ticket and not anyone from the South. Not Ron Paul, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Sen. Shelby, or even the feckless Gov. Crist of Florida. No one from the Confederate South is on either ticket.

Of course we all know that although John McCain has roots in the South and even ancestors who fought for the CSA he has chosen to turn his back on his heritage. He has trashed the Confederate Flag and lied about what it stands for. I say “lied” because he knows the truth and denies it to gain favor with the neo-con centralist who are in control of the Republican Party.

If Mrs. Palin does not know the truth about NAFTA the same cannot be said about Sen. McCain. He is a supporter of NAFTA, unlimited trade with China, and the NAFTA corridor. Like several of his gang in the Republican Party; Kit Bond, Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry, and others Mr. McCain is bought and paid for by the global centralists who are behind initiatives like the corridor and so-called “free trade”.

If you have been following Mr. McCain’s career and the sort of people who support him it will not be any surprise at all that he is a puppet of the globalist agenda. If you listened closely to his acceptance speech he told you just what he means to do and showed his hand to anyone paying close attention. He is for change, even more than Mr. Obama in fact. He is for real fundamental change. The kind of change you will not hear Rush Limbaugh or the Wall Street Journal question.

In his speech Sen. McCain said, “We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children. All these functions of government were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution and the end of the Cold War. We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington.”

Read it closely: “…change…almost everything…” Everything that was designed before “the rise of the global economy” must be changed to accommodate it. Does that scare anybody else as much as it scares me?

Because of Sen. McCain’s track record on the subject of the South and because he has pointedly decided to openly disrespect the South is it any stretch that he intends to do his best to “change” the South? He has certainly eliminated the South from his ticket even though it is a traditional Republican stronghold. He despises our traditions of true federalism, resistance to centralized control, the Flag, and our heritage. McCain is betting that the South will follow him regardless the odious nature of his positions; in effect, validating him. Is it some great leap of understanding that he might also be interested in continuing cultural Reconstruction against the South?

I admired Sarah Palin’s speech. The sharp quips coming from the rather diminutive figure on the stage were refreshing. Seeing a woman nominated for high office is exciting. Her hard work and community spirit are inspiring. The fact that she sees the Alaskan Independence movement in a favorable light is hopeful. But believing that she won’t be sucked into the globalist black hole of trans-national centralism is impossible.

If I were to put my “X” next to the McCain-Palin ticket instead of the Obama-Biden ticket in November it will mean that I am more afraid of Obama’s global socialism than the global agenda of McCain’s elites: the devil I know rather than the one I don’t know I suppose. Of course there are other options and maybe that’s the answer. But there is no doubt that whoever wins, the cause of liberty is in greater danger than it was before the election.

David S. Reif is an essayist living in the Missouri Ozarks. He has written about politics, modernism, and the impact of science on culture for publications in the United States, Europe, and on the Internet. He can be reached at: renegadeheart@sbcglobal.net

RE: THE GROWING VIABILITY OF SECESSION

An opinion piece in the LA Times (10 September) by Christopher Ketcham points to the growing viability of secession movements within these United States.

The nomination of Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and a supporter of the Alaskan Independence Party, as the GOP's Vice Presidential candidate, has brought the issue of secession to the forefront of American political discourse once again.

The League of the South, the only Southern nationalist organization, which has been advocating an independent Southern Republic for the past fifteen years, is prominently featured in Ketcham's article. In July, a Zogby poll found that more than 20% of Americans agree that a State has the right to secede from the union. In the South, that figure jumped to 26%. These numbers in support of secession in the early 21st century are greater than support for the colonies' secession from the British Empire in 1776. Moreover, some 44% of those polled agreed that the American system "is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections."

Ketcham also quotes from the Chattanooga Declaration, a secession manifesto that came out of the Second North American Secessionist Convention, co-hosted by The League of the South in October of last year. Ketcham notes: "It could be argued that secession is the primal American act, as old as the concept of the States themselves. What else did our Founders accomplish in 1776 but secession from the tyranny of England." He also understands that "secession worries the staid opinion gatekeepers of the major media."

Far from dismissing modern day secessionists as whackos and nut cases, Ketcham understands that secession is rooted firmly in the American experience and ought not be dismissed out of hand. This has been The League of the South's unwavering message.

For Ketcham's article, see this link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ketcham10-2008sep10,0,6298381.story

For the Chattanooga Declaration, see this link:
http://dixienet.org/New%20Site/chattanoogadeclaration.shtml